The men's tennis team lost to Harvard University 5-2 on Friday in a showdown that will most likely decide the Ivy League championship.
Though the 50th-ranked Bears made the 20th-ranked Crimson work for every point, Harvard came away with the victory. Brown closed out the weekend with a 7-0 sweep of Dartmouth University on Sunday. The Bears' record now stands at 19-6 (5-1 Ivy League), but their run for the Ivy title has been stunted.
Harvard came into the Friday match as the favorite, but Brown was not willing to give the Crimson any ground. The match was moved indoors to the roof of the Pizzitola Center due to inclement weather, and spectators filled all the room available, cheering Brown on every point. Chants of "Bru-no" echoed from one side of the roof to the other, and matches were stopped more than once as officials quieted the crowd.
"Friday was an unbelievable experience for everyone involved," said Head Coach Jay Harris. "The electricity in that crowd was greater than anything at any sporting event I've ever been to."
In doubles, both Brown and Harvard came out blazing and ready to play. Adil Shamasdin '05 and Nick Goldberg '05, at number-three doubles, were the first to notch a win, defeating Chris Chiou and Cliff Nguyen 8-3. Co-captain Kris Goddard '04 and Zach Pasanen '06, playing in the number-one doubles spot, traded points with Jonathan Chu and Brandon Chu before giving up a crucial break. Harvard won the match 8-5 and tied doubles matches at one apiece.
The doubles point rested on the shoulders of co-captains Jamie Cerretani '04 and Ben Brier '04. Cerretani and Brier built a 5-2 lead against Dave Lingman and Mark Riddell, but Harvard came storming back to tie the match at 8-8 and send it to a tiebreak.
With all the day's spectators watching closely, Lingman and Riddell won the tiebreak 7-3, with help from three crucial double faults by Cerretani. The loss marked only the second time this year that the Bears lost the doubles point.
"I have to give them credit to come back like they did," Cerretani said. "Everyone played at the highest level possible."
Despite the disappointing doubles loss, Bruno returned fired up for singles. Due to the large number of fans, matches were only played on three courts, and Brown fed off the crowd's energy to capture the first set in each of the first three matches.
Cerretani, ranked 94th in the nation, took the first set 6-2 from 34th-ranked Lingman, while Shamasdin and Goldberg both captured tiebreak 7-6 wins over Riddell and 88th-ranked Jonathan Chu, respectively.
Harvard, however, showed its depth and skill, coming back to win two of those three matches. Lingman beat Cerretani 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, while Chu defeated Goldberg 6-7, 6-3, 6-2. Shamasdin fought out of a 4-5 hole in the second set to force Drew Dinkmeyer into a tiebreak. Shamasdin won the tiebreak 7-5 to give Brown its first singles victory and make the team score 3-1.
Pasanen, playing number-six singles, was the last player to start his singles match. He wasted no time in dispatching Chiou 7-5, 6-4, making the team score 3-2. Brier and Eric Thomas '07 remained on the courts at four and five singles. Despite the Brown-friendly crowd, Harvard clinched the win with Nguyen's 6-3, 6-4 victory over Thomas. Martin Wetzel closed out the match with a 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Brier, giving Harvard the 5-2 victory.
The win pushed Harvard's Ivy League record to 5-0, while the Bears dropped to 4-1. Barring a spectacular upset, Harvard will win the Ivy League title for the second year in a row while Brown will again come in second place.
While all of the hype last weekend was directed at the Harvard match, the Bears did have another match. Brown traveled to Hanover, N.H. on Sunday to play against Dartmouth. Eager to get a small measure of revenge for the Harvard loss, the Bears rolled over the Big Green 7-0.
Brown doubles cruised to an easy victory as all three teams swept Dartmouth, losing a combined total of only eight games. In singles, Brown won four of the six matches in straight sets and won the other two in third set tiebreakers for the 7-0 victory.
Brown closes out its regular season in a home match against Yale University on Thursday.
