Tennis Teams Fall Short In Weekend Tournaments

The Harvard men's tennis team and three players from the women's squad were busy participating in tournaments over the weekend.

Juniors Melissa McNabb and Eliza Parker and freshman Kelly Granat faced tough competition and could not advance past the quarterfinals of a tourney in Princeton, N.J.

And on the men's side, the Crimson came close but could not pull out a single victory, as Harvard was swept by three different teams in an intercollegiate tournament at Kentucky University.

After getting spanked 6-1 by 17th-ranked Tennessee, Harvard rallied and took Colorado and Texas Christian University to the limit but could not eke out a victory, falling 4-3 to both.

The doubles team of sophomores Andrew Rueb and Umesh Wallooppillai provided one of the few bright spots against the Volunteers with an 8-3 victory in their doubles match.

That victory, combined with a 9-8 (tiebreaker 7-5) doubles victory from the team of junior Adam Meister and senior Peter Stovell gave Harvard its only point in the match.

In a tough contest against Colorado, Rueb and Wallooppillai were able to knock off their opponents in straight sets.

But the Crimson did not have the firepower to hold off Colorado, and the Buffaloes stampeded their way to a one-point victory.

The story was similar against TCU, with Rueb and Wallooppillai winning again. With junior Marshall Bourroughs' three set victory, the Crimson needed one more singles win or two out of three doubles triumphs to steal the match.

But TCU swept the remaining games and Harvard fell a point short again.

"I thought we did great considering that we have a young group," Harvard Coach David Fish said. "Tournaments like these give our young guys a look at some quality competition really early."

"We've got a quick team, and we've got to work on converting that speed," Fish said. "Other teams we play are able to spend more time on the court, but we just have to work harder with the time we've got."

The Women

McNabb's strained muscle started out the Princeton tournament on a sour note for the Crimson, but Granat and Parker's sterling performances turned the weekend into a positive step for Harvard.

Granat was supposed to be merely gaining experience by participating in a tournament like this one as a freshmen, but she took full advantage of her opportunity.

Playing with gritty determination, Granat powered her way to the quarterfinals before falling 6-3, 6-3 to Columbia's Liz Alina.

Parker played aggressively and took Brown's highly-ranked Monica Katrina to the limit before running out of gas and succumbing 6-7, 7-6, 6-1. Parker then pushed her way to the quarterfinals of the consolation round before falling to Kristin Kodalik of Penn State, 6-3, 7-6.

"Granat did not actually play as well as she could have," Harvard Coach Gordon Graham said. "She got to the quarterfinals more through will and determination and she might have beaten [Alina] if she was a little fresher."

Parker has shown particular promise all year since this is the second time this season she has come within a couple of points of knocking off a top 10 player and pulling off a major upset.

"Parker's got the kind of game to beat those top players," Graham said.

"She forces other players to make mistakes, but she also winds up making those mistakes. She needs to learn how to put people away."