“We had played Trinity before and beaten them,” Anzik said. “If everyone had played the same today, we would have won, so I think that put a lot of pressure on the girls who did win last time. Today Trinity was just very mentally tough, they had some great matches, and they outplayed us on the day.”
Trinity went up 4-2 after junior Ashley Tidman beat Harvard sophomore Michelle Gemmell in five games. Gemmell started strong, going up, 2-0, but could not keep up as Tidman cruised through the last three games to give Trinity the point at the seventh position.
With the remaining three matches must-wins for the Crimson, Sobhy left nothing to chance in the No. 1 spot. The junior breezed through her match, sweeping Trinity’s Kanzy El Defrawy to give Harvard another point in the win column. MacGowan followed up Sobhy’s victory with a five-game win of her own to even the match up, 4-4.
The Crimson started the match off well, getting two quick wins from sophomore Katie Tutrone and junior Megan Murray to go up, 2-0, early. Harvard’s other losses came at the second and eighth positions from junior co-captain Haley Mendez and senior Isabelle Dowling, respectively.
HARVARD 6, YALE 3
Ten days after a 7-2 win over Yale clinched the Ivy title for the Crimson, Harvard once again powered past its historic rivals to make its way into the national title match.
Four of the Crimson’s six wins came in straight sets, with the deciding win coming from Gemmell in the fifth spot. The sophomore clinched Harvard’s spot in the finals with an 11-9, 11-6, 11-7 win over Yale’s Jenny Scherl. Sobhy and Mendez led the way in the top two spots, sweeping both of their matches in straight sets.
HARVARD 9, DARTMOUTH 0
The Crimson started its quest to defend last year’s national title with a perfect 9-0 sweep of eighth-ranked Dartmouth. It was the third time this season that Harvard swept the Big Green.
The Crimson had perfect 3-0 wins in eight of the nine matches to advance to the semifinals, with the only dropped games coming in Isabelle Dowling’s 3-2 victory over Dartmouth’s Tori Dewy.
—Staff writer Glynis K. Healey can be reached at ghealey@college.harvard.edu.