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Harvard Caps Trip With An Easy Win

Crimson rolls to a sweep over winless Fresno State in California finale

Harvard concluded its spring break trip on Saturday by taking on Fresno State in Fresno, Calif. In decisive fashion, the No. 51 Crimson women’s tennis team (8-6) swept its matches from the Bulldogs (0-12) to win, 7-0.

“Today’s match went very well,” Harvard coach Traci Green said. “We competed very well as a team, top-to-bottom.”

“I’m really proud of the way we stuck together and stayed mentally tough,” the coach added.

It was the team’s first shutout victory since it opened its spring season against Boston University in January.

“Everyone fought really hard today…We’ve been working really hard at practice,” freshman Hideko Tachibana said. “It’s finally paying off.”

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Harvard began the afternoon by winning two of the three doubles matches to take the doubles point for the first time in four contests.

Sophomore Holly Cao and junior captain Samantha Rosekrans delivered an 8-3 win in the top doubles spot, while Tachibana and freshman Kristin Norton clinched the point with an 8-6 victory.

“We had a lot of energy,” Tachibana said of her doubles match. “We started off really well.”

“We were working on trying to close in and come to the net,” she added. “It was a tough match, and we pulled it out.”

After doubles play concluded, sophomore Sam Gridley set the tone for the singles round with a 6-3, 6-0 win in her first action of the road trip.

“She stepped in there at No. 6 today and was fired up from the very beginning,” Green said. “She fought all the way through and came through for the victory.”

Tachibana started off slowly at No. 2, dropping her first set 6-2.

Not one to go quietly, she fought her way to quick 6-1 wins in the second and third sets to give Harvard its third point of the afternoon and put it one away from clinching the match.

“I was not as prepared as I should have been,” Tachibana said. “But I stayed tough to pull out the second and third sets.”

Following Tachibana’s example, classmate Norton stayed strong through a close match. Norton won her first set handily, but the second set was neck-and-neck.

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