Junior co-captain Holly Cao picked up a pair of singles victories at the No. 1 position for the Crimson this weekend, but her efforts could not prevent Harvard from finishing fourth in the ECAC Indoors this weekend.
Presidents’ Day weekend was all business for the Harvard women’s tennis team as it traveled to Princeton, N.J., to compete in the ECAC Indoor Championships.
The No. 55 Crimson finished in the top half of the eight-team field—seven of which came from the Ivy League, and played three matches in as many days. After defeating Cornell, 6-1, in its opening match on Friday, third-seeded Harvard fell to No. 40 Yale, 6-1, in Saturday’s semifinals. The Crimson secured its fourth-place finish in the tournament with a 4-1 loss to Brown Sunday.
“Overall, we did a pretty solid job,” junior co-captain Holly Cao said. “We came away a little bit disappointed that we had one win out of the three matches, but it was a good weekend for gaining more experience. We performed pretty well in doubles, which we were happy about.”
Known to struggle to earn the doubles point in the past, Harvard managed to turn the tides this weekend, winning the doubles point in two of its three matches.
“The coaches have been trying some new partnerships and have been putting an increased emphasis on doubles,” Cao said. “It paid off this weekend, which was good to see.”
HARVARD 6, CORNELL 1
The Crimson (3-5) opened the tournament strong with a solid victory over the Big Red (4-2).
“We knew that we could get a victory over Cornell, so we stuck to our game, played a solid match, and were happy to come away with the win,” Cao said.
Wins on the No. 2 and No. 3 courts secured the doubles point for Harvard, and strong singles play reinforced the Crimson’s command of the courts.
No. 47 Cao continued to dominate at the No. 1 position, taking her singles match, 6-1, 6-1.
Sophomore Hideko Tachibana earned a victory in straight sets on the No. 2 court, 6-2, 6-2, and sophomore Kristin Norton won in three sets in the No. 3 position.
While co-captain Samantha Rosekrans dropped a point for Harvard on the No. 5 court in three sets, close straight-set victories by freshman Natalie Blosser and junior Samantha Gridley on the No. 4 and No. 6 court, respectively, secured the Crimson’s final two points of the match.
“We played really well and came out competing,” Tachibana said. “We had a lot of momentum going and took care of business that day.”
YALE 6, HARVARD 1
With Harvard’s opening day play earning it a berth to the semifinals, the squad met a tough match in the Bulldogs (9-2), falling to the tournament’s eventual champions.
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