Harvard captain Deborah Abeles, who homered in last weekend's win over St. John's, and sophomore Sarah Koppel, who went 2-for-2 in that game, will have to have strong days at the plate.

If the Crimson can indeed upend the Hokies (17-9), it will stand in good stead as it readies itself for the start of the Ivy season on April 8.

Men's Tennis

Spring break in California sounds like a good time. Except that, for the Harvard men's tennis team, it means that the Crimson will have to travel 3000 miles to face some of the best teams in the country.

Harvard (8-6) has lost four of its last five dual meets and desperately needs some wins before it starts the Ivy League season in April. Playing four matches next week, the Crimson will be lucky to pull out two wins. The first team it faces is Santa Clara (7-4), which should be an easy win.

However, the next match will be against Stanford (10-0). The Cardinal is ranked No. 3 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, and for several weeks held the top spot. Harvard, in contrast, has dropped from Top-25 a few weeks ago to a distant No. 66. Stanford gives Harvard match-up problems up and down the singles lineup, but its biggest advantage comes from its top-ranked doubles team of Geoff Abrams and Alex Kim.

Later in the week Harvard will face off against University of California-Berkeley, another nationally ranked team. The Bears (6-3) have come off some big wins against Clemson and BYU recently, and are looking to ride that momentum to a win over the visiting Crimson. California currently has an ITA ranking of No. 48.

Finally, Harvard travels to Stockton, Calif., to face the University of the Pacific (10-2). The Tigers may be the hottest team the Crimson will face, as they are riding a six-match winning streak, including wins over higher-ranked Louisville and University of California-Irvine. Those wins propelled Pacific from No. 62 last week to No. 36 in the latest ITA rankings. The Tigers are led by their No. 1 singles player, Dietrich Haug.