It is the dawning of Erika's era in the land of Harvard women's tennis.

Bolstered by the additions of Grand Slam-experienced Erika deLone--who is widely regarded as college tennis's top recruit--and five more strong newcomers to an already solid squad, the Crimson looks to crack the top-20 rankings this season.

But for the time being, Coach Gordon Graham is thinking locally.

"I think we will have a chance to be ranked," Graham said, "but it is hard to say what it takes to make the rankings, so we don't have much control over that. We want to get the Ivy championship back, and I think we have a chance to win the East and go to nationals."

The Matchups

The fall season will provide Harvard several key opportunities to exhibit its talents.

The Crimson's toughest test of the fall should come at the Harvard Invitational, which runs Sept. 20-22, when Harvard competes against Oklahoma State, Texas Christian and Illinois, all of which have been top-20 teams in past years.

Victories against any of the three squads will lift the Crimson into the Volvo/ITCA computer rankings.

The Harvard Invitational will be deLone's first team tournament in college. While she never played for her high school team because of an "inflexible coach" that would not allow her to miss practice to play the pro circuit, according to deLone, she has played team tennis previously for the U.S. Junior Davis Cup team. WOMEN'S TENNIS Sept. 20-22  HARVARD INVIT. (Oklahoma State, TCU, Illinois)  TBA Sept. 27-29  at ITCA National Clay Court Championships (at Panama City, Florida)  TBA Oct. 19-20  ITCA Regional Team Championships (Site TBA)  TBA Oct. 24-27  at All-American Championships (at Pacific Palisades, CA)  TBA Nov. 1-3  at ITCA Regional Indiv. Championships (at U. of Pennsyivania)

"I'm very excited to play the Harvard Invitational," deLone said. "It will be our first real test as a team."

"It's a great way to open the season," Graham added. "Oklahoma State has some good foreign players. Texas Christian should be tough, and Illinois can compete really well."

The ITCA team qualifier, which the Oct. 5-6 at Yale, will be Harvard's chance to prove itself as a top team in the Eastern region. Eight colleges will fight for two berths to the Eastern regional semifinals in the weekend tourney.

The two semifinalists, of which Harvard and Yale are favorites, will meet the two semifinalists from the other ITCA team qualifier, which probably will be William & Mary and Brown.

"The ITCA team qualifier has a little more significance than the Harvard Invitational," Graham said. "We have a chance to advance to the National Indoors in Wisconsin, and that is certainly within our scope. The tournament should help our kids develop into nationally competitive players."

And finally, the Individual Championships, which run from Nov. 1-3, will give Crimson players a chance to establish themselves in the national rankings. The nation's top players will compete at this tournament.