Pictured: Joshua Tchan picked up a win in singles and doubles.
Photo courtesy: DSPics.com

NEW YORK- The Harvard men’s tennis team fell in its opening Ivy League contest, 5-2, to Columbia. The Crimson dips to 9-9 and 0-1 in the Ancient Eight while the Lions improve to 12-3 on the season and 2-0 in the conference.

Facing a 1-0 deficit in doubles action, Harvard evened the score at a match apiece as Alexei Chijoff-Evans and Joshua Tchan picked up an 8-4 at the No. 3 doubles slot. Columbia secured the doubles point with a win at the top slot.

Freshman Christo Schultz put the Crimson on the scoreboard with a win at the No. 5 singles position. Schultz defeated Columbia’s Rajeev Deb-Sen in straight sets. Tchan followed suit, claiming a victory at the No. 4 spot over Cyril Bucher. The rookie took the first set 7-5 but dropped the second set 6-0. Tchan regrouped to reel in the tiebreaker, 10-3.

Harvard remains on the road as it travels to take on Cornell, April 3, in the second leg of the trip to New York.

Results
Doubles
No. 1 Wong/Nichifor (COL) def. Omodele-Lucien/Schultz (HAR), 8-6
No. 2 Gery/Schneiderman (COL) def. Felton/Nguyen (HAR), 9-7
No. 3 Chijoff-Evans/Tchan (HAR) def. Deb-Sen/Kevin Kung  (COL), 8-4

Singles
No. 1 Jonathan Wong (COL) def. Alexei Chijoff-Evans (HAR), 6-4, 2-6, 12-10
No. 2 Mihai Nichifor (COL) def. Aba Omodele-Lucien (HAR), 6-3, 6-2
No. 3 Haig Schneiderman (COL) def. Alistair Felton (HAR), 6-4, 6-0
No. 4 Joshua Tchan (HAR) def. Cyril Bucher (COL), 7-5, 0-6, 10-3
No. 5 Christo Schultz (HAR) def. Rajeev Deb-Sen (COL), 6-2, 6-4
No. 6 Nathaniel Gery (COL) def. Michael Hayes (HAR), 6-2, 6-2