GWU Tennis Matches Cancelled

Coming off Thursday's clutch 5-4 victory over Boston University, the Harvard women's tennis team hoped to establish some momentum heading into its Spring Break California trip with a win against visiting George Washington University.

The visit, though, never materialized as George Washington cancelled its trip to Cambridge, citing inadequate funding for the out-of-region trip.

"It was basically a matter of not having enough money," women's head coach Gordon Graham said. "They also had a lot of injuries and wouldn't have had their starting lineup.

The George Washington men's tennis team also cancelled its match against the Harvard men's team.

The men are also preparing for Spring Break on the West-Coast. They will face San Diego State and University of San Diego, and compete in the Anteater Classic at the University of California at Irvine.

The cancellation of the women's match denied to Crimson an excellent opportunity to gain some valuable team-match experience after the long hiatus between the fall and spring dual meet seasons.

"It would've been very close," Graham said, citing the close 5-4 Crimson victory over George Washington in the fall. "But it ws the match experience that we really wanted."

The California road trip, on which the Netwomen will face-off against six opponents in an eight-day span, should give the Crimson a chance to test its mettle against the elite in women's tennis, and hopefully raise some eyebrows.

"The California trip is improtant," Graham said. "We have a chace to knock off some nationally ranked teams."

Cal-State Northridge, California (at Malibu), University of California at Santa Barbara, University of San Diego, University of California at Los Angeles and Pepperdine are the scheduled opponents for the spring break swing.

"We'er excited abot California," sophomore Erica Cheng said.

The Crimson performance in California could go a long way in determining Harvard's chances for earning the only bid from the East Region to the NCAA tournament.

Currently, Virginia is ranked first in the NCAA East Region, with the Crimson holding down second place.

Harvard lost to Virginia in the ITA Regional Team Championships in October and will most probably not face Virginia again this year as Virginia has cancelled its scheduled April 17 trip to Cambridge.

"We've certainly been parcticing a long time," Graham said. "Our conditioning has gotten better and our doubels teams are stronger--but it's hard to know how good you are without real matches."