Six matches into its spring season, the men's tennis team not only has yet to be seriously challenged - it's hardly lost any points in each match. On Saturday, the No. 61 Bears recorded another pair of decisive victories, defeating Stony Brook University, 7-0, and Colgate University, 6-1. Thanks to two wins on the day, co-captain Eric Thomas '07 moved into fifth place on Brown's all-time combined wins list.
"We came out a lot better than we did two weeks ago," said Head Coach Jay Harris. "The guys have been working their tails off in practice, and I'm proud of how they fought for every point of every game."
In the first doubles match against Stony Brook, the nation's 25th-ranked doubles team of co-captain Dan Hanegby '07 and Chris Lee '09 trounced Nihal Advani and Quirijn Van Veen 8-1. At second doubles, the No. 15 team of Thomas and Basu Ratnam '09 routed Youssef Fassi-Fehri and Alex Markovich by a score of 8-3. Saurabh Kohli '08 and Zack Pasanen '07 rounded out the doubles domination with an 8-3 win over Ilan Shvartz and Jon Epstein at third doubles.
"We improved in doubles, which was pretty weak two weeks ago," Hanegby said.
The Bears also showed improvement in singles play, taking four of the six singles matches in straight sets. At first singles, Hanegby made quick work of Advani by a score of 6-1, 6-2. Thomas had a similarly easy victory at third singles, overpowering Fassi-Fehri 6-2, 6-2. At fourth singles, Pasanen defeated Shvartz 7-5, 6-3, and Noah Gardner '09 dominated Smith to take a 6-1, 6-0 win at sixth singles.
Kohli got off to a slow start at second singles, dropping the first set 6-3, but he fought back to take the second set, 6-3. Kohli carried that momentum into the third-set super-breaker, which he won 10-3.
"Saurabh Kohli had a great come-from-behind win against Stony Brook," Harris said. "We always like to see that."
Meanwhile, at fifth singles, Joe Scott '08 found himself locked in a three-set battle of his own. After winning the first set 6-1, Scott dropped the second set 6-1, then edged out Markovich 13-11 in the third-set super-breaker.
Even though Brown swept the Seawolves, the match lasted four hours on Saturday - and the Colgate match was still to be played. "It's tough to keep going from noon to night," Thomas said.
Showing no signs of fatigue, the Bears picked up right where they left off. Brown began the match against Colgate by taking the doubles point from the Raiders. Hanegby and Kohli teamed up at first doubles to defeat Chris Innes and Marshall Wheeler 8-3. At second doubles, Lee and Pasanen earned an 8-3 victory. The third doubles duo of Thomas and Gardner narrowly dropped 8-7 outcome to Tyler Deck and John Nogueras, but the loss was inconsequential because Brown had already taken the doubles point.
"Colgate always brings lots of fire," Harris said. "I'm happy with the way we responded in doubles and singles."
Singles action began with Hanegby's win at first singles, where he defeated Innes by a score of 6-3, 6-4.
"I'm improving every match, trying to work on new things," Hanegby said.
Thomas showed improvements of his own at second singles, overpowering MacIntyre 6-2, 6-2, despite the lingering effects of wrist and shoulder injuries. The singles and doubles wins Thomas accumulated over the course of the day advanced him past Tim Donovan '89 into fifth place on Brown's list of all-time combined wins.
At third singles, Pasanen defeated Wheeler 6-4, 6-2 to give Brown its fourth point and seal the victory early.
"Zack Pasanen had one of his best days of the year," Harris said. "His energy level was high all day long."
Lee and Gardner also kept their energy levels high at fourth and fifth singles, recording wins by scores of 6-3, 6-2 and 6-3, 6-1, respectively.
Brown's only loss was at sixth singles. Scott dropped his match 6-3, 7-6.
"We had our areas that we didn't sustain," Thomas said. "Some matches got close in areas that shouldn't have been close. But we can win when we need to win."
The Bears will travel to Blacksburg, Va., next weekend for a match with the University of Louisville on Feb. 17 and a match against Virginia Tech on Feb. 18.
"We're improving," Hanegby said. "We're working our way up. We don't want to peak yet."
