The men's tennis team, now 20-5 and ranked No. 38 nationally, traveled to New York this weekend, picking up a 6-1 victory over Cornell and a 5-2 victory against Columbia to move to 4-0 in its Ivy League season.
The Bears imposed their will against the Big Red, sweeping the doubles competition and heading into the singles with the point.
In singles, co-captain Adil Shamasdin '05 handed a lopsided 6-4, 6-1 defeat to junior Brett McKeon at first singles while co-captain Nick Goldberg '05 similarly dominated sophomore Nick Brunner 6-2, 6-1 at second singles. Eric Thomas '07 contributed a 7-5, 6-1 win at third singles to clinch the match. A 6-3, 4-6(8) win at fourth singles by Richard Moss '06 and a 7-5, 6-2 win at fifth by Phillip Charm '06 were the icing on the cake.
The match against Columbia began with a rare 8-2 loss by the duo of Shamasdin and Goldberg, but Charm and Moss answered back at second doubles with an 8-4 victory. Thomas and Saurabh Kohli '08 secured the point with an 8-6 win at third doubles, fighting off the rally of Columbia's fraternal duo, Jimmy and Martin Moore, who survived four match points before succumbing.
"The doubles play was definitely a key factor - our second and third teams played with a lot of heart and showed a lot of fight," Shamasdin said.
"We knew that Columbia had been very tough in their first four Ivy matches, winning just about every third set that they played, but we took that as a personal challenge and ... we didn't feel that they would be able to do that to us, because of our confidence," said Head Coach Jay Harris.
The two wins leave Brown as the only undefeated team in the Ivies and puts it in excellent position to win the Ivy Championship with three matches remaining in the season. "It is really tough ... to go down to New York City and beat the hottest team in the league 5-2 on their own courts," Harris said. "Our guys just battled all weekend, and we are very proud about the wins."
Brown hosts Dartmouth on Friday at 2 p.m. in its last home game of the season. For Shamasdin and Goldberg, these will be their final collegiate matches at home.
"At this point, all we worry about is that we play Dartmouth on Friday and that we need to get better this week ... because they will fight like crazy for a win," Harris said. The Bears also look forward to their match at No. 43 Harvard this Sunday, a contest that could determine the Ivy League champion.
"Our goal is to go undefeated in the Ivies, and whatever happens in other matches ... we only have one thing in mind, and that is to destroy any team that is in our way towards the title," Shamasdin said.
