Advertisement

Kavya Karra leads the way for Harvard Women's team at Harvard Fall Invitational

{shortcode-87f77da7494b0c6b4be3a26a555230613b91ec2a}

Harvard capped off its fall season with a competitive weekend at the Harvard Fall Invitational, highlighting continued progress and depth ahead of next week’s ITA Conference Masters in San Diego, Calif. The team finished 7-9 in overall play, with a singles 6–6 record and a doubles record of 3–4.

While one Crimson player has already punched her tickets to the national stage, the Invitational gave the rest of the roster valuable match experience and a final chance to sharpen play before winter break.

The Harvard Fall Invitational serves as the final event of the fall slate for the Crimson, featuring round-robin singles and doubles matches against visiting programs from the Northeast. Unlike qualifying events earlier in the season, the Invitational does not focus on rankings, instead providing additional match play and development opportunities for the full roster.

Junior Kavya Karra led the way for the Crimson, going undefeated in both singles and doubles play over the weekend. Karra opened Friday night with a 6–2, 6–4 win over Boston College’s Tola Glowacka before returning on Sunday to outlast Brown’s Hannah Shen in a thrilling three-set comeback, 6–7, 6–1, 10–8.

Advertisement

Karra also went unbeaten in doubles play. On Friday, she and sophomore Natasha Rajaram edged Boston College’s Tola Glowacka and Nadia Barteck, 7–5, before pairing with Kate Kim on Sunday to post a decisive 6–1 win over Brown’s Anne Yang and Bella Hu.

Freshman standout Claire Shao, who has qualified for next week’s ITA Conference Masters in California alongside Charlotte Owensby, opened her weekend with a 6–2, 7–6 win over Boston College’s Olivia Benton. Benton called a medical timeout at 5–5 in the second set, but Shao maintained her composure to close out the tiebreak. She fell in Sunday’s singles match to Brown’s Ali Maguy, 6–4, 6–4.

Standout junior Stephanie Yakoff, winner of the ITA New England Regional Championship, rolled her ankle in practice Friday night and opted not to compete in the Fall Invitational. Already qualified for the NCAA tournament in Orlando in two weeks, Yakoff chose to rest as a precaution and is expected to be fully recovered in time for her singles matches.

“It’s been special to host so many home events this fall, get everyone out competing, and see our young team grow each week,” said Head Coach Traci Green. “We’re also excited to have several players competing at national events in the coming days.”

Tags

Advertisement