The first loss always hurts.

At the Princeton Women's Tennis Invitational this weekend, Harvard junior Erika Elmuts couldn't get past her first-round opponent, but managed to recover to advance to the finals of the consolation bracket Sunday.

Elmuts downed three straight opponents, before finally falling to Pennsylvania State's Tami Okins-Nguyen (4-6, 7-6, 3-6) in the consolation finals.

"It's really tough to get back on the court when you've already lost," Elmuts said. "I was frustrated after the first match because I didn't play very well."

Elmuts finished the tournament in sixth place.

"Overall I think the weekend was a good one for me because I did pull out of a couple of close matches," Elmuts said.

Gordon Graham, the coach of the Harvard's women's tennis team, said he was impressed with Elmuts' performance in the tournament. Graham said, however, that Elmuts "certainly could have won had she played in a more relaxed fashion."

Elmuts lost her first match to Yale's number-one seed, Cindy Kuragami, 6-0, 6-2.

"I had been playing pretty well in practice, but I hadn't competed since the fall," Elmuts said. "[Kuragami] played very well, and I didn't really have a chance to get into the match."

After losing in the opening round, Elmuts was placed into the consolation bracket.

Elmuts breezed through her first two consolation matches, defeating Syracuse's Sharie Libreratore, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0, and Trenton State's Kristen Malmburg, 6-0, 6-1.

"I was very happy because I completely turned [my performance] around," Elmuts said.

Elmuts continued her winning streak in the semifinals, beating Rutgers' Jamie Greenberg, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

"I Started out the match really tight because I was really tight," Elmuts said. "Once I lost the first set, I stopped being nervous [and] I started playing well again."

Elmuts failed to sustain her intensity through the end, however. Okins-Nguyen capitalized on Elmuts' tentativeness, defeating the Harvard junior in the consolation finals.

"I got to the point where I was afraid to hit the ball because I was afraid to make a mistake," Elmuts said. "I was literally frozen."

Though known for her aggressiveness at the net, Elmuts did not challenge her opponent consistently throughout the game.

"Erika usually does attack the net more," Graham said. "[Okins-Nguyen] would get to the net before Erika [and take] some of the attacking advantage."

"Erika [has] a very powerful net game," junior Co-Captain Rachel Pollock said. "I think part of the problem in that match was that she lost some of her confidence in that ability."

Elmuts said she was frustrated with the way she played in the final match.

"Immediately after the match I was so angry at myself, which looking back on it now seems pretty stupid," Elmuts said. "I know I could have won the match."

Other Matches

Sophomore Samantha Ettus won her opening round match in the tournament (6-3, 6-2), but collapsed in the second, losing 6-4, 6-1 to George Washington's Lisa Shafaran.

The doubles team of Ettus and Pollock also lost in the second round. Yale's number-one team of Kuragami and Audri Delaney defeated the Harvard duo, 6-2, 6-4.