Despite some remarkable personal efforts, the Harvard women's tennis team failed to improve on its first-day standing, holding on to finish third in the Ivy League championship tournament at Yale yesterday.
Princeton captured first with 42 points, six ahead of runner-up Yale and 12 up on the third-place Crimson
Bulldozer
After suffering an upset loss in the first round yesterday, Crimson top seed Elizabeth Evans bulldozed her way through the division A consolation bracket. The Santa Monica. Calif, native dropped only three games in six sets of tennis en route to the consolation championship.
"She's the most powerful player in the Ivy League," Usher said. "She just overwhelms people."
In division B, only team strategy prevented a rematch of last year's division A final. Harvard netwomen Tiina Bougas and Maria Pe edged their way past their semi-final opponents to gain berths in the final, but the match never took place as Usher decided to split the championship to rest Pe for her upcoming doubles matches.
Bougas entered the tournament after missing the netwomen's last three matches because of academic commitments. Nonetheless, last year's division A champion played some of her best tennis of the year. "Tiina started to play like the Tiina of old," Usher said.
Pe's victories extended her winning streak to 13 matches, lifting her season tally to 14-3. The Crimson captain didn't confine her tourney success to singles, however, as she teamed with Debbie Kaufman to take second in division B doubles.
The duo downed Elis Pam Wolf and Stacy Riley, 6-2, 6-2, in the semi-finals before falling 6-4, 6-4, in the semi-finals to the pair of Jan Shelburn and Susan Whitney.
In the division A doubles semi-final, Evans and Erika Schulman staged a late rally to challenge eventual champions Connie Yowell and Kathy Dalton. Down a set and trailing 5-1 in the second, the Crimson pair worked its way to a 5-5 tie. But with Harvard serving at 3-3 in the 11th game. Yowell called a controversial double fault and Harvard went on to lose the set. 7-5.
Saturday Usher accused Yowell of using "gamesmanship and stalling" to fend off an upset bid by Harvard's Erika Schulman. Yowell denied Usher's charges.
Debbie Kaufman took the division C consolation championship. "Debbie won it on heart." Usher said "She just ran down balls."
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