“I kept calm and think I played a good match overall,” Cao said. “I need to keep being aggressive even if I’m making errors.”
The win against her higher ranked opponent moved Cao to 8-1 and will likely help improve her national ranking.
“Holly believes she can beat anybody in the country, and her teammates believe that as well,” Green said. “Holly was feeling under the weather but pulled out the victory for the team.”
To close the contest, Rosekrans battled back from an opening set 6-3 loss to take the second set 6-4. But in her super tie-break, feeling tired on the burning tennis court, she succumbed to a 10-6 loss.
“I feel like I got heat stroke or something,” Rosekrans said. “I was suffering from extremely low energy.”
Despite yesterday’s loss, the team is looking forward to playing outdoors again next week, when it continues its seven-match stretch away from the Murr Center and travels to California, before returning home for the start of the Ivy League season in April.
“I feel like the outdoor conditions actually suit our team,” Green said. “We have a lot of players who grew up playing outdoors.”
—Staff writer Eric L. Michel can be reached at emichel@fas.harvard.edu.