On Saturday, the younger members of the men's tennis team had an opportunity to demonstrate their potential against competition from a major conference - and they did not disappoint. After the Bears got off to a slow start against Michigan State University, Saurabh Kohli '08, Chris Lee '09 and Basu Ratnam '09 led the team to a 4-3 victory at home.
"We played well when our backs were against the wall, but we let a lot of opportunities slide," said Head Coach Jay Harris.
The match began with the Spartans taking the doubles point. The Bears' only doubles win came from Eric Thomas '07 and Scott Blumenkranz '08 at third doubles, as they defeated Scott Rasmussen and Michael Flowers 8-5. Meanwhile, co-captain Phil Charm '06 and Dan Hanegby '07 lost the first doubles match 8-2. Despite a close match at second doubles, Kohli and Lee fell 8-6.
"We came out much too flat in the beginning," Charm said. "Losing doubles on our home court is unacceptable."
The Bears made up for the lost doubles point in singles play, beginning with a tremendous win by Kohli at fourth singles. Kohli demolished Flowers 6-0, 6-2, finishing his victory in less than an hour.
"Saurabh got us back even," Harris said, as the win brought the match score to 1-1. "It was a really huge win."
Kohli's teammates were also impressed. "Saurabh blew his man out," Charm said.
"Saurabh set the tone for the rest of the match," Lee said.
Lee, who admitted to feeling like he "let the team down a little" with his doubles loss, stepped up his game at fifth singles. In another impressive win for the Bears, Lee went 6-3, 6-0. "I played pretty well," Lee said. "I came out there with a lot of energy."
Charm put it differently. "Chris Lee played the best match of his career," he said.
While Charm was quick to praise Lee, he was less enthusiastic about his own performance at third singles, a 6-4, 6-1 win.
"I did okay," Charm said. "It's not always pretty, but I did what I needed to do."
Harris was more impressed by the co-captain's victory. "Phil Charm was down 4-2 in the first set, but he came back and won 10 of the next 11 games," Harris said. "That's what we expect our seniors to be able to do."
The Bears' only singles losses came in the first and second positions. Hanegby dropped the first singles match 6-4, 6-2 to Rinks, while Thomas lost 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.
With the match score tied at 3-3, the final outcome rested on the result of Ratnam's match at sixth singles. But he was unruffled by the pressure. After narrowly taking the first set 7-5, he never looked back, trouncing Rasmussen 6-1 in the second set for the victory.
The Bears will take to the courts again this Friday, when they host a doubleheader against Hofstra and Fairfield universities.
