It might seem like last weekend was one of extreme highs and lows for the men's tennis team. On Saturday, the 41st-ranked Bears fell 7-0 to No. 27 Clemson University. On Sunday, the Bears rebounded for a 7-0 shutout over the United States Military Academy. But despite the convincing numbers, both matches were much closer than their final scores suggest.
The Bears started off their weekend by almost winning the doubles point against Clemson. Co-captain Phil Charm '06 and Dan Hanegby '07 dropped the first doubles match 8-6 to Jarmaine Jenkins and Ryan Young, but Eric Thomas '07 and Sam Garland '09 dominated Brett Twente and Paul Koenke with an 8-1 win at third doubles. At second doubles, Saurabh Kohli '08 and Chris Lee '09 barely gave up the victory to Clement Reix and Sander Koning, with a score of 9-8.
"We had the upper hand for most of the match, but in the end we lost it," Kohli said. He added that after losing the doubles point, the Bears were a little discouraged, while Clemson "gained a lot of confidence as a team."
The Bears still put up a good fight against the Tigers in singles play, but they came away with no victories. At first singles, Hanegby dropped his first set to Koning 6-1 but came back stronger in the second, losing that set by a much smaller margin of 6-4. At second singles, Thomas fought hard from the start, but Reix eventually took the match 6-4, 6-3.
More close matches were played by Charm, Kohli and co-captain Luke Tedaldi '06 at third, fourth and sixth singles, respectively. Charm gave up his match 6-4, 6-4 to Jenkins, while Kohli and Tedaldi also dropped their matches 6-4, 6-4 to Young and Twente. Meanwhile, Lee lost at fifth singles 6-2, 6-2 to Clint Boling.
According to Kohli, the Bears needed to focus on winning critical points. "We compete very hard," he said. "We just need to play the bigger points better."
The Bears fared much better on Sunday, when they battled the Black Knights. This time, winning the doubles point was no problem for the team. Charm and Hanegby took the first doubles match 8-3, while Thomas and Scott Blumenkranz '08 did the same with an 8-3 win at third doubles. Kohli and Lee won the second doubles match 8-5.
"We were the stronger team," Kohli said of the easier doubles victories. Charm agreed, noting, "We were able to wear them down mentally."
The Bears' mental advantage over the Black Knights was especially crucial during the singles play that followed. Although some of the matches were close, this time they went in Brown's favor as the Bears took three of their singles matches in third set breakers.
At first singles, Hanegby narrowly dropped his first set to Carl Fisher and was down 4-3 in the second when he rallied to take it 6-4. Hanegby won the third set breaker for a final score of 6-7, 6-4, 10-7.
Charm won two tiebreakers of his own at third singles. After losing the first set to Michael Good, Charm was forced to play tiebreakers for the second and third sets, but he won both for a score of 3-6, 7-6, 10-4. Another third set breaker was required in the fourth singles match, in which Kohli defeated Phil Muhawi 6-4, 4-6, 10-7.
The rest of the singles matches progressed smoothly. At second singles, Thomas had an easy 6-2, 6-0 victory over Eddie Kang, while at fifth and sixth singles, Basu Ratnam '09 defeated Sean Harris 6-1, 6-2 and Tedaldi defeated David Collins 7-6, 6-4.
"You could see a lot of growth, especially among the younger guys," Charm said of the improved play.
The Bears are hoping that this improvement persists throughout the rest of the season. "It was a good building experience for us as a group," Charm said. "We'll put in more hard work and sweat, and hopefully that will pay off next time we face the top teams."
The Bears' next matches will take place Feb. 12, when they host Stony Brook University and the University of Rhode Island.
