Eastward ho.
The men’s tennis team faces Harvard today at 2 p.m. in the Beren Tennis Center in Cambridge, Mass., and Dartmouth tomorrow at noon in the Alexis Boss Tennis Center in Hanover, N.H. Both matches are on the road and on more familiar hard court surfaces.
After giving the dog a bone last weekend, in spotting a win for Columbia, the men look to jump back in the running for the Ivy League title.
Columbia is the defending league champion and the Red came in a bit nervous with the knowledge that it is good enough to win the league title this year outright. To make matters slightly worse, Cornell played on clay courts. This surface is fairly rare in the Northeast and the team doesn’t get to practice on it often.
The toughness and resiliency of the team will not allow for this to remain as an excuse for its play.
This weekend will allow for the squad to execute and perform to its potential after getting rid of the yips last weekend. If history is accurate, then the Red is a much stronger team then it showed last weekend.
Thus, Harvard and Dartmouth should run into a team which has had a solid week of practice and a new commitment for taking care of business.
In a close loss to a nationally-ranked Miami squad earlier in the year, the Red played as if it had nothing to lose. When a team is loose, it plays better and lets it all hang out. Everyone plays harder and crushes shots all over the place.
The earlier doubles matches will set the tone this weekend and will be a good indicator as to how the Red will play for the all-important singles matches. The singles matches account for the majority of the team scoring and remain the primary focus.
Senior tri-captain and No. 1 Mike Halperin looks to add another tally in the win column. Freshman and No. 5 Zach Gallin also looks to keep trucking along this weekend after last weekend’s win. The rest of the team looks to start anew and come out firing on all cylinders again.
Knowledge is a dangerous thing sometimes. The netters know that they have what it takes to win the Ivy title this year and must now simply execute.
Well they know now and travel to Harvard and Dartmouth anxious to regain confidence.
Harvard poses a strong team which should be in the running for the Ivy title, but a small hurdle that the Crimson must clear is its relative inexperience compared with Cornell.
Dartmouth is another one of the strong teams in the conference and has some impressive wins. Most recently the Big Green defeated then No. 8 in the country Azusa Pacific, 4-3, in a come from behind win.
Fear of another team is definitely not the trademark of the netters this season. The only battle they will face is with themselves.
Archived article by Donald Lee