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Harvard University Men Team News
No. 23 Harvard Men’s Tennis Wins Tournament, Snaps No. 20 Drake’s Streak
Sunday, 03/24/2013

SAN DIEGO—The No. 23 Harvard men's tennis team captured the tournament championship at the Mission Valley Spring Classic with a 4-2 defeat of 20th-ranked Drake Saturday evening at Aztec Tennis Center, ending the Bulldogs' 17-match win streak.

The Crimson (12-4) extended its own win streak to seven matches by taking both finished doubles contests and three of the five completed singles matches. Drake (17-2) is 41-5 over the last two seasons, with two of those five defeats coming at the hands of Harvard.

The title-match win was a true team effort, as each of the Crimson's seven competing players won one match at singles or doubles.

The duo of Casey MacMaster and Denis Nguyen again set the tone, downing Drake's Jean Erasmus and Alen Salibasic at No. 1 doubles, 8-3. Kelvin Lam and Alex Steinroeder then gutted out a 9-7 win at No. 3 to secure the key doubles point.

That left Harvard needing three singles victories to clinch the championship. Andy Nguyen at No. 4 and Shaun Chaudhuri at No. 2 got the first two of those victories in straight sets, but Drake stayed alive with two wins of its own.

Nicky Hu wrapped up the team win for Harvard in dramatic fashion. He lost the first set to Erasmus at No. 5 singles, 2-6, but then claimed the second, 6-3, and won a third-set tiebreaker, 7-6 (5), to seal it for the Crimson. Denis Nguyen nearly added another victory but was left one game short when Hu clinched.

1. Denis Nguyen (Harvard) leading No. 50 Anis Ghorbel (Drake) , 6-4, 3-6, 5-2 unfinished
2. Shaun Chaudhuri (Harvard) def. No. 121 James McKie (Drake), 6-2, 6-4
3. Robin Goodman (Drake) def. Alex Steinroeder (Harvard), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
4. Andy Nguyen (Harvard) def. No. 125 Alen Salibasic (Drake), 6-3, 6-4
5. Nicky Hu (Harvard) def. Jean Erasmus (Drake), 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5)
6. Ben Mullis (Drake) def. Kelvin Lam (Harvard), 6-1, 6-1

1. No. 67 Casey MacMaster/D. Nguyen (Harvard) def. Erasmus/Salibasic (Drake), 8-3
2. Ben Lott/McKie (Drake) vs. Hu/A. Nguyen (Harvard), 7-7 unfinished
3. Lam/Steinroeder (Harvard) def. Ghorbel/Goodman (Drake), 9-7