Harvard 7, Penn 2
It took gritty play from up and down the ladder to take out a Penn (8-3, 3-3) team that wouldn’t go down quietly. It may not have been pretty, but it was efficient, as the Crimson subdued the feisty Quakers 7-2.
“This was a great match for us, coming out of exams this last week,” Bajwa said. “Not to make excuses, but they’re acknowledgments, knowing that we had a tough time getting ourselves together.”
While Hall was up to her usual tricks in a 3-0 rout at No. 1, Wilkins had a slow start against intercollegiate No. 18 Paula Pearson. Wilkins found herself in a 1-5 hole in the first game before regaining the serve and her cool, storming back to take the match in three games 9-5, 9-3, 9-0.
The most impressive aspect of the overall contest, however, was Harvard’s ability to slam the door shut when it mattered. No. 8 Stephanie Hendricks, after claiming a 2-0 lead on two close games, had to fend off a fierce retaliation from Lorin Riley, who roared back to take the third game 9-1. Down 2-5 in the fourth game, Hendricks rallied to tie the score at five-all, pumping her fist and screaming, “let’s go!”
“That’s what I do,” Hendricks said of her verbal pyrotechnics. “Everyone makes fun of me…I don’t know. I’m a redhead. I need the energy, that’s what gets me going.”
The tactic worked, as Hendricks traded the lead and the serve with her opponent until she was finally able to put the game out of reach at 10-8.
“The fourth game was very important because they were long points,” Hendricks said. “A fifth game would have been a very tiring game.”
Duboc had an endurance trial at No. 3, swapping games with Dafna Wegner until the decisive fifth game. Duboc appeared to be losing momentum with a 9-4 loss in the fourth game and starting out down 1-3 in the fifth. With the final team outcome already decided, Wegner was playing only for pride and looked as though she would win on sheer desperation. But Duboc finally exploded, dipping into deep splits to reach the ball and sending Wegner running all over the court as she notched the victory 9-3.
Duboc credited the raucous crowd and it’s chants of “you rock, Duboc” with keeping her pumped up.
“After every point I just tried to keep with it and think about the next point, and take it point by point, instead of thinking about the outcome,” Duboc said.
—Staff writer Lisa J. Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.