Junior captain Samantha Rosekrans, shown here in earlier action, was one of only two Harvard competitors to win both of her matches for the Crimson women’s tennis team this weekend in road contests against Penn and Princeton. Harvard struggled against the Tigers on Friday, falling 5-2, but the squad bounced back on Saturday with a 7-0 sweep of the Quakers.

The women’s tennis team traveled to Princeton (18-5, 5-0 Ivy) and Penn (4-13, 0-5) this weekend riding a four-match win streak and looking to give itself the inside track to an Ivy League title. But the squad would face its biggest challenge this season against the league favorite Tigers, who shared the Ivy crown with Harvard last season.

Unfortunately for the Crimson (11-7, 3-1), No. 28 Princeton fended off No. 53 Harvard, 5-2, on Friday, putting the Tigers in the driver’s seat for a league title with only two matches against Ancient Eight bottom dwellers Cornell (11-9, 1-3) and Columbia (9-12, 0-5) to play. On Saturday, the Crimson began a new win streak in defeating the Quakers, 7-0.

“Friday we had a tough match against Princeton, and then we bounced back against Penn,” Harvard coach Traci Green said. “Now we’re reloading for Brown on Friday.”

HARVARD 7, PENN 0

Saturday brought the Crimson nothing but wins. In fact, the Crimson only lost one set the entire afternoon.

“Our goal was to beat them as badly as possible,” junior captain Samantha Rosekrans said.

“Overall, we came to play,” Green added. “We executed the whole way through, which was great to see.”

The squad opened the afternoon with a sweep in doubles play. Sophomore Holly Cao and Rosekrans shut out their opponents, 8-0, at No. 1. Meanwhile, freshmen Hideko Tachibana and Kristin Norton won, 8-2, at No. 2, and sophomores Caroline Davis and Samantha Gridley took the No. 3 match, 8-3.

In singles play, No. 56 Cao improved to 13-3 on the No. 1 court with her 6-1, 6-2 victory over Alexa Ely.

On the next court, No. 121 Tachibana won her first set, 6-2, but found herself tied 5-5 with Emily Wolf in the second before pulling out the next two games to extend her win streak to five matches.

Norton made quick work of Jacqueline Wong, 6-2, 6-1, while Rosekrans defeated Jules Rodin, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 4 for her sixth-consecutive singles victory.

Freshman Alexandra Lehman and Gridley recorded victories at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively.

“Our squad played like a unit against Penn, had a target in mind, and went for it,” Green said.

PRINCETON 5, HARVARD 2

Facing its fellow defending Ivy champion for the second time this season, Harvard hoped it could repeat its 4-2 victory over the Tigers in February at the ECAC Women’s Indoor Tennis Championship Tournament. Playing in Princeton, N.J., this time, the Crimson couldn’t pull off the repeat and dropped its first league match this season, while the Tigers remained undefeated in Ivy play.