Give the men's tennis team a rowdy home crowd, and it will put on a powerful performance. This was evident during Friday evening's doubleheader against Hofstra and Fairfield universities, as the No. 47 Bears won every match in their most convincing triumph this season.
"Any day where we win 7-0, 7-0 is a great day," said Eric Thomas '07.
Thomas started the match against Fairfield with a bang, opening doubles play with two 145-mph aces in a row. "They were the hardest serves I've ever hit in my entire life," he said.
The second doubles duo of Thomas and Sam Garland '09 won easily by a score of 8-1.
The doubles demolition continued, as co-captain Phil Charm '06 and Dan Hanegby '07 earned a perfect 8-0 victory at first doubles, and co-captain Luke Tedaldi '06 and Scott Blumenkranz '08 won 8-1 at third doubles.
Keyed by the energy of the fans, who filled both bleachers and forced some spectators to stand, the doubles trouncing took only half an hour to complete - about half as long as the doubles point usually takes to play out.
This energy carried over to singles play. The Bears made their individual victories look effortless, taking every win in straight sets. At second singles, Saurabh Kohli '08 followed Thomas' lead by opening his match with three straight aces before going on to take the match by a score of 6-3, 6-0.
Meanwhile, at first singles, Hanegby defeated Fernando 6-1, 6-4, and the other Bears' scores were even more convincing, as Tedaldi, Noah Gardner '09, Garland and Blumenkranz each gave up no more than three games.
"Fairfield is a solid team," said Head Coach Jay Harris. "To beat them that bad shows how tough and competitive we are."
According to Harris, the encouraging crowd, which flocked to the Bears' first home evening match of the year, played a big part in the Bears' impressive showing. "The fans were going crazy," Harris said. "The guys were on fire. They were so inspired by the crowd."
Earlier in the day against Hofstra, the Bears had to do with a more subdued home crowd. But they dominated nevertheless, again taking every match.
At first doubles, Hanegby and Kohli defeated Nikola and Luka Djordjevic, 8-6. Charm and Chris Lee '09 won 8-1 in the second doubles match, while Blumenkranz and Basu Ratnam '09 won the third doubles match by a score of 8-4.
The first singles match pitted Charm against Nikola Djordjevic, to whom he had lost during the fall season. But Charm refused to concede another victory to Djordjevic. After taking the first set 7-6, Charm dropped the second set 6-7. But he stayed strong during the gripping third-set tiebreaker and emerged victorious.
"I'm pretty proud of myself," he said. "I was able to tough it out. It was good for my confidence."
Thomas, Garland and Ratnam gave up just one game each in the second, third and fourth singles matches, respectively. At fifth singles, Tedaldi defeated Luka Djordjevic 6-1, 6-4, and Gardner won the sixth singles match by a score of 6-1, 6-3.
"Today was a really good day for everyone," Charm said.
Harris was also pleased with the team's performance. "Winning all 18 matches is obviously a good day," he said. "The way the guys approached their matches was very professional."
This week, the team will travel to Montgomery, Ala., to compete in the Blue/Gray Invitational.
