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Men's Tennis Tops No. 22 Harvard to Cap Spring Trip
March 21, 2015 | Men's Tennis
Video above of the final point of the match, courtesy of Laura Gamble and Michael Lin.
For the second time this season, the 32nd-ranked Princeton's men's tennis team has upped the number of the highest-ranked team it has defeated in three seasons under Billy Pate.
Two seasons ago, the Tigers beat No. 40 Michigan State. That was the standard until a month ago, when Princeton beat No. 30 Mississippi State just five days after the Tigers had lost to then-No. 30 Harvard in Cambridge in and ECAC Championship semifinal.
With the team's 4-3 win over the Crimson Saturday afternoon in San Diego, not only did the Tigers avenge that defeat, but Princeton also set the mark for highest-ranked team defeated under Pate by toppling its 22nd-ranked Ivy rivals.
The rubber match, and the only one that counts toward the Ivy standings, will be April 12 in Princeton.
The afternoon began with Princeton using wins from Zack McCourt and Tom Colautti on court one and Luke Gamble and Diego Vives on court two to win the afternoon's first point, and then Vives won his singles match on court five while yielding only three games. McCourt's and Colautti's win came over the No. 10-ranked doubles team in the nation, Denis Nguyen and Brian Yeung.
Up 2-0, Princeton then traded wins with Harvard, taking a loss on court four before Colautti picked ip a straight-set win on court two to put Princeton up 3-1.
The clinching point didn't come easy. In the last straight-set singles match of the day, Harvard's Nguyen, ranked 47th in the nation, won a second-set tiebreak to end 119th-ranked McCourt's bid on court one, and then the Crimson picked up another win on court three to pull even.
Gamble, who was a substitution for Dan Richardson on court six, bounced back from losing the second set to win four of the last five games of the third set after opening that frame down 3-2, clinching the set and the match.
The win makes it a 2-for-3 weekend for the Tigers at the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Spring Classic after Princeton beat No. 39 Indiana Thursday before losing to No. 30 and host San Diego Friday.
Princeton will be back in action Saturday when the Ivy season opens against Penn in Princeton.
| 4 |  |
(32) Princeton (15-4) vs. (22) Harvard (12-5) Mar. 21, 2015 • San Diego, Calif. |
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3 |
Doubles
| 1 | (56) Colautti/McCourt (P) | |
(10) Nguyen/Yeung (H) | 6-4 |
| 2 | Gamble/Vives (P) | |
Beltrame/Hu (H) | 6-1 |
| 3 | Day/Ben Tso (P) | DNF | Andrew Ball/Chaudhuri (H) | 5-3 H |
Singles
| 1 | (119) Zack McCourt (P) | |
(47) Denis Nguyen (H) | 6-3, 7-6(7) |
| 2 | Tom Colautti (P) | |
Nicky Hu (H) | 6-4, 7-5 |
| 3 | Alex Day (P) | |
Sebastian Beltrame (H) | 6-4, 7-5 |
| 4 | Josh Yablon (P) | |
Brian Yeung (H) | 6-2, 6-4 |
| 5 | Diego Vives (P) | |
Kenny Tao (H) | 6-1, 6-2 |
| 6 | Luke Gamble (P) | |
Shaun Chaudhuri (H) | 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 |
| Next match: vs. (61) Penn, Saturday, March 28, 1 p.m., Lenz Tennis Center or Jadwin Gym |
| Match notes: This was Princeton's 11th match against a ranked opponent in 18 matches overall this spring, and the Tigers now have a 7-4 record in those matches ... the singles match was Luke Gamble's first of the spring trip and his fourth win in a row. |
| Order of finish: Doubles: 2,1; Singles: 5,4,2,1,3,6 |
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Coach Billy Pate on the matches: "This was a tremendous tennis match and it took a great effort to get the win. Harvard is very balanced, very talented and always brings their best against us. I can't say enough about Luke's poise in the third sed. For a freshman, he really acted like he had been in that situation many times. Diego also stepped up and had a great win to put us up 2-0, so it's great to see our young guys making such impactful contributions. As always, the doubles point was pivotal and we played very well to get us the lead." |