Spring weekend brought good weather and good fortune to the men's tennis team, which swept Cornell and Columbia to stay alive in the Ivy title race on Friday and Saturday. Bruno embraced the clear skies of April by competing on their outdoor courts for the first time at home this season, defeating Cornell on Friday 6-1, followed by a nail-biting 5-2 victory over reigning Ivy champion Columbia.
"Personally, I love playing outdoors because your athletic ability is shown to the fullest and proves who the toughest team is," said Sam Garland '09. "Our scores of 6-1 and 5-2 definitely showed we came with the energy and (were) able to keep it up throughout the four-five hour affair."
Cornell was first up in this weekend's affair as Bruno came out strong sweeping the doubles point in three easy victories. At No. 1, co-captain Saurabh Kohli '08 and Basu Ratnam '09 took the first win 8-6, followed by co-captain Noah Gardner '09 and Garland with an 8-5 win at No. 2 doubles. The No. 3 pairing of Chris Lee '09 and Charlie Posner '11 also proved victorious, grabbing the sweep with an 8-6 win.
Unfortunately, Posner, filling in for an injured Jon Pearlman '11, couldn't keep the momentum flowing into his singles play, as he was the lone Bear to drop his match. Posner was quickly defeated 6-3, 6-0 at No. 6, but Bruno charged on, dropping only one set in the remaining five matches at No. 4 singles as Garland fought for a come-from-behind victory in three sets winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. At No. 1, Kohli grabbed an easy win, 6-3, 6-1, followed by Gardner at No. 3 singles winning 6-3, 6-0. Lee, at No. 2 singles, dominated his first set 6-1 before struggling in the second set leading to a tiebreaker where he grabbed the point for Bruno, 7-6. Following suit with Lee, Kendrick Au '11 quickly grabbed his first set at No. 5 singles before powering through the second set to finish his match, 6-2, 7-5.
"My game plan was simple - stay extremely consistent, not force myself to do too much and attack when I could," Au wrote in an e-mail. "As soon as we step on the court, it's all about taking care of business for us, and I think with that mentality combined with an amazing group of supporters helps eliminate any nerves we may have."
But there were no signs of nerves in the Bears as they warmed up for their must-win match against Columbia the following day.
"We knew coming in that Columbia was going to be an extremely tough team," Lee said. "They are very strong up and down the entire lineup, we knew that we had to play big and play confidently to beat this team."
At the start of doubles play, that confidence was apparent on all three courts. At No. 1, Kohli and Ratnam easily grabbed the win, 8-4, but it would be the only doubles win for Bruno as No. 3 Lee and Posner played a match that was much closer than their 8-4 loss would indicate. At No. 2 doubles Garland and Gardner, down 6-2, made a last ditch attempt for a victory with fans and teammates spurring them on, but they ultimately fell 8-6.
With his team down 1-0, Head Coach Jay Harris attempted to fire up his players by reminding them that only one point was done, and there was still an entire match ahead of them.
"Coach said we need to show these guys the energy we can bring through the entirety of all six singles matches," Garland said of Harris' speech. "He always stresses after we lose a doubles point that there are six more points to be had."
It seems Harris' speech truly did inspire the team as they came out swinging with one thing on their mind: victory. With the urgency to grab the win, Bruno quickly jumped on the Lions, winning the first sets on five of the six courts. Garland was the first with a win to tie up the score at No. 5 singles, 6-0, 6-4, but that was immediately followed by a loss at No. 3 singles, when Ratnam dropped his match, 6-4, 6-3. As the day wore on, fans began to pour into the stands providing the support and energy the Bears needed to motivate them to victory.
"It was so great to play in front of so many friends and family," Kohli said. "Our crowds are very vocal and they help us through tough situations. It's always great to be able to look up to the stands knowing that you have so much support."
That support came at just the right time as Gardner at No. 4 singles was down in the second set 4-1 before his teammates and (always present) parents kept him alive as he demolished the next five games to win the match in tiebreaker, 7-6, 7-5. It was the same story on a different court as Au, at No. 6 singles, grabbed the first set 6-3 before losing his game in the second set, 6-0. As news broke in the stands he had split sets, the crowd shifted towards his court to cheer him toward a victory as he clinched the match with a 6-0 win in the third.
Up 3-2, it was down to the top two players on the final two courts, as one more victory would give Bruno the team win. As Kohli split sets at No. 1 singles, he began to cramp and called for a medical time-out, and the attention was then shifted to Lee at No. 2 singles.
"I didn't actually know Saurabh was cramping until after my match, I didn't even know we were up 3-2 until I was up 6-5 in the second and I asked coach what the score was," Lee said of the pressure. "After he told me, I went out with a little more determination knowing that I could clinch the match right there."
Lee stepped up to the plate, and knocked it out of the park, as he was up 40-0 in the last game when he grabbed match point by a double fault from his opponent securing the victory for Bruno, 7-6, 7-5. With one more match to go, Kohli was showing signs of extreme pain as he limped across the courts during play, but continued to show his determination for a win in his final match against Columbia.
"At this point of the season, there isn't much you can work on physically," Kohli said of his gut-wrenching match. "It is what we can do to stay tough mentally and emotionally to keep us swinging away."
Kohli kept swinging as he caught a break at 2-2 in the third, the match having already been awarded to Brown, the line judge called for a seven-point tiebreaker to determine the winner of the match. Knowing he only had to play hard for seven more points, and that all eyes were on him without any of the added pressure, Kohli grabbed the victory, wincing and limping in pain, 6-7, 7-5, 2-2 (8-6).
Falling into a sea of supporters from Brown, the Bears celebrated the victory with a "Happy Birthday" song to Ratnam, who turned 21. He could be overheard saying they now have two things to celebrate, his birthday and their two wins.
"I am so proud of our guys, because we really fought at every spot, until the very last ball was hit," Lee said.
While celebration may have been in order for the victories and Ratnam's birthday, there are plenty more balls to be hit in the upcoming weeks as the Bears will next hit the road to take on Dartmouth this Friday before returning home for the match of the season against the current Ivy leader, Harvard, on Sunday, April 20 at 12 p.m in the Pizzitola Center.
"This has been the deepest the Ivy League has been in many years," Lee said of the upcoming competition. "We can only focus on our next match, because every match is a challenge, every match has the Ivy League title on the line."
