SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men's tennis team went up against the No. 10-ranked Harvard Crimson at the Aztec Tennis Center on Monday, March 13. The Crimson overcame a late singles surge from SDSU to win 4-0.
The Scarlet and Black fall to 1-6 this season, while Harvard improves its record to 7-3.
"It took us a little while to get going today, but in the end we all had the feeling we belonged on court with a top 10 program," said head coach Gene Carswell after the match. "Today, we found ourselves winning second sets in half our singles matches and had a good chance of pushing a 4th match to a 3rd set. We ran out of time and Harvard got the job done against us. Although disappointing, we'll take positives from the comebacks made in singles."
SDSU struggled to get much going in doubles. On the top court, No. 80 Johannes Seeman and Chikaya Sato faced the duo of Harris Walker and Daniel Milavsky. The SDSU combo was dropped 6-2. On the third court, Eugenio Gonzalez Fitzmaurice and Mathieu Josserand fell to Alan Yim and David Lins 6-1. Alexander Mandma and Bora Sengul trailed Steven Sun and Ronan Jachuck 5-1 on the second court when Harvard clinched the doubles point.
On the top singles court, Seeman (4-3) faced off against No. 27 Walker and battled early, with the score even at three after six games. From there, Walker went on a six-game run on his way to a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
Playing on the No. 2 court, Sato (2-5) drew Milavsky and lost in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1.
Andre Saleh (1-3) played on the No. 5 court against Valdimar Pape. After dropping the first set 6-3, he battled back in the second to take it 6-1. However, he could not complete the comeback as he was blanked in the third 6-0.
On the other courts, Josserand (0-4) and Gonzalez Fitzmaurice (1-2) each claimed a set while Mandma (1-4) sent his second set to a tiebreaker, but the match was clinched before they finished.
Playing on the No. 3 court, Mandma faced Jachuck and lost the first set 6-2. He led 2-1 in the second set tiebreaker when the match was called.
On the fourth court, Gonzalez Fitzmaurice was swept in the first set against Sun 6-0. He fought back to claim the second 7-5 and trailed 2-1 in the third when the match was decided.
Josserand played on the No. 6 court and lost the first set to Yim 6-1. He stormed back to take the second 6-4 but trailed 3-2 in the third when the match was called.
San Diego State will get another opportunity for a win when it faces No. 59 Wisconsin at 2 p.m. PT on Wednesday, March 15, at the Aztec Tennis Center. The team will also host matches in the San Diego Spring Invitational this weekend, from Friday, March 17, through Sunday, March 19.
No. 10 Harvard 4, San Diego State 0
Aztec Tennis Center – San Diego, Calif.
March 13, 2023
Singles Competition
1. No. 27 Harris Walker (Harvard) def. Johannes Seeman (SDSU) 6-3, 6-3
2. Daniel Milavsky (Harvard) def. Chikaya Sato (SDSU) 6-2, 6-1
3. Ronan Jachuck (Harvard) led Alexander Mandma (SDSU) 6-2, 6-6 (1-2)
4. Steven Sun (Harvard) led Eugenio Gonzalez Fitzmaurice (SDSU) 6-0, 5-7, 2-1
5. Valdemar Pape (Harvard) def. Andre Saleh (SDSU) 6-3, 1-6, 6-0
6. Alan Yim (Harvard) led Mathieu Josserand (SDSU) 6-1, 4-6, 3-2
Doubles Competition
1. Harris Walker/Daniel Milavsky (Harvard) def. No. 80 Johannes Seeman/Chikaya Sato (SDSU) 6-2
2. Steven Sun/Ronan Jachuck (Harvard) led Alexander Mandma/Bora Sengul (SDSU) 5-1
3. Alan Yim/David Lins (Harvard) def. Eugenio Gonzalez Fitzmaurice/Mathieu Josserand (SDSU) 6-1
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (1,2,5)