Fresno State Athletics
Craziness Reigns as Men's Tennis Battles No. 30 Harvard
3/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 16, 2003
FRESNO, Calif. - Rain wreaked havoc on Fresno State's matches during the Blue-Gray Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala., all week. But never was it less welcome than on Saturday night, in the middle of the most heated contest of the season.
The Bulldogs (8-6) and Crimson began their consolation round match -- the final contest of the tournament for both teams -- at 5 p.m. local time. After 30th-ranked Harvard took the doubles point, it grabbed a 2-0 lead with a straight-set victory at No. 1 singles.
Because several tournament matches had been delayed due to rain, the Fresno State-Harvard duel was limited to three courts. Once No. 1 singles was completed, No. 4 singles was placed on court. However, at No. 4, Andy Sinn lost quickly, putting the Bulldogs into a 3-0 hole.
But hope remained after Stefan Suta pulled out an emotional, hard-fought three-set win that had both teams' players literally climbing on the surrounding fences. Greg Shearer at No. 3 and Marc Schaerer at No. 5 both followed with wins, evening the team score at 3-3.
That left matters up to No. 6 singles, where freshman Sergiu Modoc matched up with Harvard's Jason Beren, playing in his first ever collegiate dual match. The two took the court at about 10 p.m., nearly five hours after the match began. Modoc led Beren 2-1 in the first set when all other matches had been completed.
Modoc won the first set and had a 5-4 lead (on serve) in the second when Beren rattled off three consecutive games to claim the set 7-5. Beren then picked up an early break in the third and led 3-2 when the mist that had been falling nearly the entire match intensified, making the court slick and unplayable. After waiting nearly 45 minutes for the precipitation to halt, the match was called off.
Since Harvard had a flight out of Montgomery, Ala., early Sunday morning, the match could not be made up on site. However, since the Crimson will be on the West Coast this weekend to play Stanford, the Bulldogs may travel to the Bay Area to have Modoc and Beren finish what they started Saturday night.
"We're hoping we can finish the match when Harvard is at Stanford," said head coach Brad Dancer. "It was a crazy match, and this would be a crazy ending. But to play for as long as we did and not have a winner wouldn't seem right."
The Bulldogs' next scheduled match is March 29 against BYU in Boise, Idaho.
No. 30 Harvard vs. No. 56 Fresno State, tied 3-3 (PPD - rain)
Doubles (Harvard wins point)
1) #41 Riddell/Lingman (HU) def. Almada/Modoc (FS), 8-5
2) Chiou/Chu (HU) def. Shearer/Sinn (FS), 8-4
3) Choo/Nguyen (HU) vs. Krohn/O'Rourke (FS), did not finish
Singles
1) David Lingman (HU) def. #122 Hector Almada (FS), 6-3, 6-1
2) Stefan Suta (FS) def. Mark Riddell (HU), 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
3) Greg Shearer (FS) def. Cliff Nguyen (HU), 6-2, 7-6 (6)
4) Marc Schaerer (FS) def. George Turner (HU), 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
5) Oliver Choo (HU) def. Andy Sinn (FS), 6-2, 6-1
6) Jason Beren (HU) leads Sergiu Modoc (FS), 4-6, 7-5, 3-2 (PPD-rain)*
Match will be made up at a to be determined date
Players Mentioned
