The men's tennis team faced tough opposition from 18 colleges at the season-opening Northeast Intercollegiate in Providence this weekend. Despite match after match of long rallies in the grueling sun, the Bears won the top two out of nine singles flights in the individual-ranking tournament.
With a remarkable four Brown players all in the No. 1 singles flight, Dan Hanegby '07 seized a first-place finish with a convincing 6-3, 7-5 win over Zoltan Bus of Manhattan College. Hanegby's path to victory also included wins over players from Assumption College, Boston College and Hofstra University.
"We don't even doubt it anymore, we just expect Dan to win," said co-captain Luke Tedaldi '06.
The final of the No. 1 flight was nearly an all-Brown affair, as Eric Thomas '07 advanced to the semifinals before falling to Bus, 7-6, 6-3.
Co-captain Phil Charm '06 and Saurabh Kohli '08 - who were partners in the No. 1 doubles flight - advanced to the quarterfinals of the No. 1 singles flight. Charm lost to Nikola Djordjevic of Hofstra University, 7-5, 6-0, while Kohli lost a close match to Bus 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Later, the two Bears played each other for fifth place , which Charm won 6-1, 2-6, 1-0 (10-8).
Capturing the first-place title in the No. 2 singles flight was Mike Scherer '08. Scherer easily overpowered his opponent, Diego Alvarado of Manhattan College, posting a score of 6-2, 7-5. Scherer also defeated players from the University of Rhode Island, Saint Joseph's University and Manhattan College earlier in the tournament.
In the No. 2 singles flight, Tedaldi advanced to the semifinals, confronting Alvarado in one of the tournament's most exciting matches. Tedaldi took the first set 6-3, before dropping the second set 6-7 and the third set 3-6.
"I played pretty well," Tedaldi said. "My opponent was very consistent ... we had a real battle out there."
Sam Garland '09 and Chris Lee '09 lost their No. 2 singles flight quarterfinal matches, but Lee secured a fifth-place finish with a walkover.
In the No. 3 singles flight, Scott Blumenkranz '08 grabbed the fifth-place position, and in the No. 4 flight, Basu Ratnam '09 advanced to the semifinals before an injured shoulder forced him to withdraw.
"It's tough on the body," he said of the nearly continuous match play.
Though the Bears' skills shone in their singles matches, doubles play had a few disappointments in store for them. The first-seeded duo of Charm and Kohli lost their first-round match in the first doubles flight 8-5 to Mickey Gallagher and Chris Innes of Colgate University.
In the same flight, Thomas and Hanegby advanced one round further by defeating Walter Garcia and Justin McConkey of Niagara University 8-3. But in the quarterfinals, the pair lost 8-4 to Pedro Genovese and Leo Rodriguez of Marist College.
The No. 2 doubles flight proved more successful for the Bears. Garland and Lee finished as runners-up to Mike Good and Eddie Kang of Army in a close 9-7 match.
Tedaldi and Blumenkranz also advanced to the quarterfinals, losing another 9-7 match to David Desrochers and Sammy Saad of the University of Montreal.
In the No. 3 doubles flight, Scherer and Ratnam dropped their first-round match against Ray Josephs and Greg Marks of Marist College, 8-5.
Overall, the team enjoyed the chance to pit their skills against other teams.
"This is the first tournament," Ratnam said. "It's a test to see how we measure up against the other teams."
With such strong victories in singles, it may not seem like the team needs very much work but the Bears are determined to improve. On this note, Tedaldi appreciates the benefits of a fall tournament season.
"These tournaments show you what you need to work on," he said.
Head Coach Jay Harris agreed. "There are a lot of things we need to improve," he said, "but with a young team, you expect that."
Nevertheless, "We're doing okay," Harris said.
