Men's Tennis Upsets No. 15 Harvard, 4-3

MONTGOMERY, Ala. ? The University of Colorado men’s tennis team won perhaps the greatest victory in school history on Friday upsetting No. 15 Harvard, 4-3 at the 16-team Blue-Gray Intercollegiate. The Buffaloes, ranked No. 75 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll rallied from a 3-2 deficit against the Crimson to pull off the biggest win under third-year head coach Sam Winterbotham.

“It’s a fantastic win for our program,” said Winterbotham. “To beat a team at this level is a great accomplishment. I’m so proud of their effort.”

The win over Harvard is a school first over a nationally ranked opponent from the Top-15 and evens the all-time series with the Crimson at two. CU/Harvard have not played against each other since 1995 with all four meetings on neutral courts. Harvard is traditionally an elite force in men’s collegiate tennis who plays a competitive schedule from start to finish, had defeated then-No. 12 Southern California, No. 22 Old Dominion, and No. 42 Michigan State earlier this season.

After losing the doubles point and trailing 1-0, CU impressively pulled ahead 2-1 winning the top two singles positions with Marko Bundalo upsetting the ITA’s No. 31^st ranked player in Jonathan Chu in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. Freshman Jan Zelezny followed suit at No. 2 defeating Ashwin Kumar also in straight sets, 6-1, 7-5.

After the Crimson secured the No. 4 and No. 5 singles points and regaining the team score 3-2, the Buffaloes saw themselves with a pair of match points at the same time as Peter Bjork (No. 3) and Chad Tsuda (No. 6) pushed CU ahead for its most impressive team victory to date.

Bjork and Tsuda, who each won their first set and fell in the second, subsequently closed the door of their opponents in the decisive final set each winning 6-3.

“Beating a team of this quality shows what heart this team has. This is a big step for us,” added Winterbotham.

The Blue-Gray Intercollegiate is traditional event every March featuring some of the best college tennis programs in a round robin format over a four-day period in Montgomery, Alabama. Schools competing are: Harvard (No. 15), Notre Dame (No. 18), Tulane (No. 25), Florida State (No. 24), Rice (No. 27), Louisville (No. 35), North Carolina State (No. 39), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (No. 44); San Diego (No. 45), Boise State (No. 55), Tulsa (No. 56), Fresno State (No. 59), Brown (No. 63), Old Dominion (No. 64), William and Mary (No. 68) and Colorado (No. 75).

No. 75 Colorado 4, No. 15 Harvard 3

Colorado (5-5), Harvard (7-5)

March 11, Montgomery, Ala.

Singles
1) Marko Bundalo (CU) def. (31) Jonathan Chu 6-4, 6-1
2) Jan Zelezny (CU) def. Ashwin Kumar 6-1, 7-5

3) Peter Bjork (CU) def. Dan Nguyen 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

4) Shantanu Dhaka (Harvard) def. Marek Dvorak 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-3

5) Brandon Chiu (Harvard) def. Marcos Digliodo 6-4, 6-2

6) Chad Tsuda (CU) def. Gideon Valkin 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-3

Doubles
1) (26) Chiu/Chu (Harvard) def. Tsuda/Digliodo 8-5

2) Dhaka/Kumar (Harvard) def. Bundalo/Bjork 9-7

3) Dvorak/Zelezny (CU) def. Valkin/Nguyen 8-6