DeLone Wins ITCA Singles

The Harvard women's tennis team is good.

How good?

Led by freshman star Erika deLone, the team came within a game of winning both the singles and the doubles brackets of the ITCA Northeastern Individual Championships, held in Philadelphia over the weekend.

Second-seeded DeLone won the singles brackets handily, and the Harvard doubles team of deLone and junior Erika Elmuts lost in the finals to the top-seeded Boston College team of Jennifer Lane and Pam Piorkowski, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5.

Against the B.C. duo, Harvard was up 5-3 in the final set and deLone had a chance to serve for the match. But, for the first time all day, deLone's serve was broken, and Lane and Piorkowski went on to win the set and the match.

"It's hard to keep the intensity up for so long," deLone said. "There's a lot of momentum in doubles, more so than in singles, and they got the momentum and ran with it."

DeLone's performance in the singles brackets, though, was a case of uninterrupted momentum.

"I was very happy with the singles tournament," deLone said. "It was a big accomplishment for me. I don't think I had ever played so many matches in such short a time frame."

It was the sheer number of matches, in the end, that brought deLone and Elmuts down.

"By the time we played the doubles finals, I had been on the court for eight hours," deLone said. "I was really tired, and it affected my play."

But Harvard's strong showing is cause for celebration, not lament, over could-have-beens.

Impressive Showing

In the singles brackets, Harvard placed four players in the 64-player field, a very impressive showing for such a young team. DeLone, Samantha Ettus, Elmuts and Rachel Pollack were all invited to compete. Pollack, unfortunately, was forced to withdraw due to an injured shoulder.

"I think it shows that we're back to the level we played in the mid-80s, when we were a top-20 team," manager Michael J. Lartigue said.

The team might have placed five players in the tournament, but regular number-two player Melissa McNabb has not competed this season because of a knee injury she suffered earlier this year.

DeLone, the first Harvard player to win the tournament since Kathy Vigna in 1986, breezed through her early round matches. She did not allow an opponent to win three games until the semifinals, when Cindy Kuragami of Yale won four games in a losing cause, 6-1, 6-4.

The final was a different story. DeLone's opponent, top-seeded Julie Shiflet of William and Mary, had defeated deLone in a tournament two weeks earlier.

Shiflet came out strong, but deLone fought her way to a 5-1 advantage in the first set tiebreaker. Shiflet, though, rebounded to win the tiebreaker 9-7.

"I was kind of pissed after that," deLone said. "Losing that tiebreaker hurt."

DeLone deflated Shiflet and regained the high ground in their rivalry by winning the next two sets 6-4, 6-4.

"It was one of the best matches we'd ever played," deLone said. "The revenge was sweet."

Tough Battle

In the doubles bracket, things were not as easy for the Crimson. Elmuts and deLone survived a second round scare from John Madison University, but won 7-5, 6-1. In the semifinals, they defeated a strong Yale team 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, but in doing so used up valuable energy which they needed for the final.

The other two singles entrants for Harvard, Ettus and Elmuts, each advanced to the second round of their brackets.

Ettus defeated Missey Daniels of Vermont 6-3, 6-1, but unfortunately had to face Lane in the second round. Lane, who was destined to advance to the semifinals in the singles bracket, vanquished Ettus, 6-1, 6-2.

Elmuts nearly lost her first round match against Ashley Faherty of Richmond, dropping the first set, 6-0, but rallied to win the match, 7-5, 6-2.

In the second round, Elmuts lost to Serena Wu of Brown, 6-2, 6-2.

But it was in the doubles brackets that Elmuts made her mark.

"Erika [Elmuts] played unbelieveably well," deLone said. "Her returns were amazing, and her desire to win was strong."

The team's strong performance, even without their second-best player, was an indication of how good this team can be.

The squad is extraordinarily young. The top nine consists of one senior, two juniors, three sophomores, and four freshmen.

Furthermore, deLone can only get better and has four years to hone her skills before undoubtably heading to the pro circuit.

Already, this team is a force.

But just wait until the spring.