Coming off a successful spring break, the men's tennis team looks ready to take the Ivy League by storm. After defeating Florida Atlantic University 4-3 on March 26 and Assumption College 6-1 Thursday, No. 63 Brown faced No. 7 Wake Forest University Sunday. Though the Bears ultimately dropped the match, it was much closer than the 5-2 score indicated.
"It's been a great break," said Head Coach Jay Harris. "A week ago, I was a little worried, but this week, I'm much happier with how we look going into the Ivy League season."
Against Florida Atlantic, the Bears captured the doubles point to give them an early advantage. At second doubles, co-captain Eric Thomas '07 and Saurabh Kohli '08 earned a 9-8 win over Olivier Sajous and Karol Szmurlo, and at third doubles, Noah Gardner '09 and Zack Pasanen '07 defeated Daniel Vardag and Eddie Majcher 8-5.
But in singles play, the Owls fought back to even the score. The Bears dropped the first two singles matches as co-captain Dan Hanegby '07 lost 6-3, 6-4 at first singles and Basu Ratnam '09 lost 6-1, 6-4 at second singles. Bruno took two more wins at third singles, where Kohli defeated Vardag 6-3, 7-5, and at fifth singles, where Pasanen defeated Majcher 6-2, 6-3.
Meanwhile, in the sixth singles match, Gardner narrowly lost the first set 7-6 but bounced back to take the second set 6-4, then dropped the third set super-breaker. With the score tied at 3, the final outcome rested on the fourth singles match between Thomas and Corey Smith. After Thomas won the first set 7-5, he dropped the second set 3-6, then dominated in the third set, demolishing Smith 6-1 to give Brown the 4-3 victory.
"We really came together as a team," Harris said. "Florida Atlantic is a very good team, so it was a huge win for us. It came down to the wire, but Eric Thomas pulled through at fourth singles. That was big."
The match against Assumption went more smoothly, beginning with a sweep of the doubles matches. Kohli and Hanegby devoured Collin Vero-Casavante and Dave Marshall 8-1 at first doubles, Ratnam and Thomas overwhelmed Antonio Recalde and Matt Stopp 8-4 at second doubles, and Gardner and Pasanen trounced Jared Dorfman and Rich Lieberman 8-2 at third doubles.
Brown took only one loss against the Greyhounds, when Ratnam dropped the first singles match in a third set super-breaker. The Bears won the remaining singles matches in straight sets. At second singles, Hanegby destroyed Stopp 6-2, 6-0, and at third singles, Kohli defeated Dorfman 7-5, 6-3. Thomas easily overpowered Marshall 6-0, 6-2 at fourth singles, while Gardner and Joe Scott '08 completed Brown's 6-1 win at fifth and sixth singles, annihilating Vero-Casavante 6-0, 6-1 and defeating Tom Novak 6-2, 6-2.
"Our match against Assumption was a pretty good match," Hanegby said.
Sunday's match against a top-10 opponent put the Bears to the test. The battle began with doubles play as Pasanen and Gardner demolished Andrew Hamar and Steven Forman 8-2 at third doubles, and Ratnam and Thomas dropped their match 8-4 to Cory Parr and Charles Sartor at second doubles. The pressure was on at first doubles, but Hanegby and Kohli overcame the No. 25-ranked duo of Todd Paul and Mariusz Adamski by a score of 8-6 to take the doubles point.
At the beginning of singles play, several Bears led, but when the first sets were pushed to tiebreakers, the Demon Deacons came out ahead. At third singles, Thomas lost 7-6, 6-3 to Forman, and at sixth singles, Gardner lost 7-6, 6-2 to Andrew Brasseaux. At fourth singles, Kohli also took his first set to a tiebreaker but lost the match 7-6, 6-2 to Andrew Hamar.
"I did well," Kohli said. "I won both of my matches (against Florida Atlantic and Assumption), and I started off well today. I'm hitting the ball better, and I'm confident going into the Ivy League season."
At second singles, Ratnam also had an early lead, after winning the first set 6-3. However, he dropped the next two sets 6-1, 6-0 to No. 74 Parr. At fifth singles, Pasanen lost 6-3, 6-4 to Jason Morgenstern, and at first singles, No. 116 Hanegby lost 6-4, 6-3 to No. 7 Paul.
"Today was a little disappointing," Hanegby said. "We had a lot of opportunities in singles, but we didn't take advantage of them. That's the difference between us and a top-10 team in the country."
Harris said the Bears will focus on improving in doubles as they head into the Ivy League season. The Bears will host No. 65 Princeton on Friday and the University of Pennsylvania, with whom Brown shared the Ivy League title last year, on Saturday.
The Bears hope to win their third consecutive championship this season, and the experience they gained from playing a top-10 team will help prepare them for this goal.
"This match will motivate us to get better," Kohli said. "We had a close match against the No. 7 team, so we're up there. We're feeling confident about the Ivy League season."
