W. Tennis Wins ITA East Championship

The Harvard women's tennis team was definitely enjoying itself this past weekend. In one of the last tournaments of the fall season, the Crimson journeyed down to Princeton for the three-day ITA East Regional Team Championship and walked away with the trophy.

Continuing its tennis dominance in the East Region, Harvard crushed Virginia Tech, 6-2, in the final match.

Ranking as high as No. 24 in the nation last spring, the Crimson was looking to use this fall campaign as preparation for next March.

Equipped with new, talented freshmen and strong returners, the Crimson is hoping to extend even higher into the national rankings come the spring.

The tournament this past weekend offered the last challenge of the fall, and if beginnings are any indication of how a team will fare in a tournament, the Crimson left no doubt as to its future at the ITA Regional Team Tournament.

Facing off against Yale on Friday, Harvard treated its opponent like a speed bump. Giving up only one set, the Crimson did not drop a single match as all six players tallied victories.

With another crushing victory--this time a 5-0 wallop of Boston College--Harvard looked as if it was not to be touched. Both junior Gabriela Hricko and sophomore Ivy Wang disposed of their opponents, 6-1, 6-0.

Also nabbing their second consecutive wins in the tournament were sophomore Rosemary She, junior Julia Kim (6-3, 6-4) and senior Gina Majmudar (6-1, 6-3).

The matches would not stay so easy, however.

In one of the final matches, Harvard was pushed to its limit, but managed to pull out a 5-4 victory over its Ivy foe, Brown, on Saturday.

Last weekend, Harvard placed second in the ECAC Tournament at Yale while Brown pranced away with the championship. Although the two teams never faced off against each other at the ECACs, the match this past weekend was all about redemption.

"Coming into the tournament we wanted to beat Brown and they definitely wanted to beat us," Jain said. "We knew that it would be competitive."

Wang (6-0, 6-1), along with freshmen Aparna Ravi (6-4, 6-2) and Vedica Jain (6-1, 7-6) pulled out straight set victories while Hricko added the other single's win.

Hricko wasn't done yet, as she and Majmudar paired up to defeat Brown's duo, 8-6.

That victory propelled the Crimson passed the Bears, and thus the team was headed into the final round of the tournament.

After two full days of tennis and six matches later, Harvard was as fresh as ever and ready to bounce back for one more contest.

"We didn't feel that fatigued," Jain said. "We were pumped up and ready to play. This is one of the biggest tournaments of the fall so we were ready to come out and win."

Although it beat Virginia Tech last year, Harvard wasn't about to take any team lightly. It took no time for Harvard to continue its dominance, break away from Virginia Tech and cruise to a comfortable championship victory.

Despite a first singles loss by She, Wang (6-3, 6-4), Majmudar (6-0, 6-1), Hricko (6-0, 5-7, 6-4) and Jain (6-3, 6-2) more than made up the difference with solid single's wins.

Hricko and Majmudar (8-2) performed their double's magic once again while Kim and She mimicked the pair with their own 8-2 win that helped to put the final nail in Virginia Tech's coffin.

The team is now back home with an East Regional Team Tournament Championship under its belt and is looking towards the future.

"Our goal is to make the NCAAs," Jain said. "We are definitely driven and we work well together. We think more of team than of the individual."

Considering its lofty goals for the spring, its performance this past weekend was definitely not a bad way to end its fall season.