The Harvard men's tennis team (17-4, 4-0 Ivy) picked up two convincing victories at Penn and Princeton this weekend to maintain its undefeated overall Ivy record. HARVARD  7 PRINCETON  2 HARVARD  7 PENN  0

Both the Quakers and Tigers hold national rankings in the top 75.

"We were very happy to pick up the win against Princeton," senior Mike Passarella said. "They were most likely our toughest match until NCAAs."

But the good news for the Crimson doesn't stop there. In the official ITA National Team Tennis Rankings released today, Harvard has jumped six spots to claim the No. 17 ranking. The rankings take into account all matches played up to April 12, so the victories against Penn and Princeton were not included.

"We don't look too much at the rankings," Passarella said. "Ideally, we would like to finish in the top 16 because it would make our road easier in regionals. But we don't have control over them."

In addition to moving up in the team rankings, Harvard remains atop the individual rankings list. With a 46.43 point ranking average, James Blake remained the No. 1 ranked singles player in the country--a position he has held since December 8. The No. 2 ranked player, Florida's Jeff Morrison, garnered a 32.01 point ranking average, over fourteen points below Blake. Co-captain Kunj Majmudar dropped eight spots to No. 53 in singles, while junior John Doran climbed to No. 93.

In doubles, Blake and co-captain Kunj Majmudar remained No. 2 in the nation.

Harvard 7, Princeton 2

On Friday, Harvard took four singles matches and swept the doubles round to defeat Princeton 7-2.

Playing like the country's top player, Blake cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over the Tigers' Kyle Kliegerman. Also winning in straight sets, Majmudar beat Judson Williams 6-4, 6-4 in the No. 3 position.

At No. 2--after falling behind an early break in the first set to Ahn Ahn Liu--Doran recovered to win the set with a 9-7 tiebreak. Then--with this newfound momentum--he closed out the match, winning the second set, 6-4.

Also prevailing in a tight match, Passarella defeated Patrick Sweeney 7-6 (6), 6-4, at the No. 5 singles slot.

"It was nice to be playing well again," Passarella said. "I lost (to Sweeney) freshman year, and then beat him sophomore year, so it was nice to win the third time around."

In doubles action, Harvard tried a new lineup partnering: Doran and Passarella at No. 3 doubles. And the move paid off, as the pair dominated the Tigers' Scott Borenstein and Jeff Schacter, 8-3.

"The new combination worked really well in both matches this weekend," Passarella said.