W. Tennis Wants Sole Possession of Ivy Title

As the regular season comes to a close, the Harvard women's tennis team has clinched a portion of the Ivy League title. Sharing the limelight with only Penn, sole ownership of the Ivy title is within the Crimson's grasp at home today against Dartmouth.

Currently undefeated in the Ivy League, Harvard (10-10, 6-0 Ivy) is in first place. Penn follows Harvard with a 5-1 record, the only blemish on coming from the Crimson. If Harvard closes out the regular season with a win over Dartmouth today, Penn would be eliminated from a share of the Ivy title.

With most of its difficult matches well in the past, the Crimson is hoping that the Big Green will not complicate things. Dartmouth (9-7, 2-3 Ivy) doesn't seem to pose too much of a threat, although the Crimson could be without Captain Ivy Wang, its top player.

"Even though we have a lot of confidence as a team going into the match, we have to play one hundred percent," junior Vedica Jain said. "If we're all on top of our game tomorrow, we'll do fine."

Dartmouth lacks depth as a team, turning in stellar individual performances, but having trouble pulling together a solid team finish.

This was evident last week as the Big Green had strong efforts from the top members of its team, but still lacked the team dominance. Yale handed Dartmouth a 6-3 loss last Friday and Brown beat the Big Green 5-4.

Dartmouth does have some fantastic individual players that could challenge the Crimson's upper ranks. Juniors Allison Taff and Rebecca Dirksen were the sole point earners in the match against Yale, winning their respective singles matches and pairing to win a doubles match.

Dirksen, who defeated Yale's Somer Khanlarian in two sets, 6-3, 6-2, is the only undefeated player in the Ivy League. She again showed her toughness in a match against Brown's Saranga Sangakkara. Sangakkara is ranked third in the East Region and lost to Dirksen, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Taff took Yale's Sarah Naison-Phillips to three sets, finishing her off, 3-6, 7-6, and 6-2.

The Crimson can breathe easy with this information, as Harvard defeated Brown and Yale earlier this season. The Crimson handed Brown a 5-4 decision on Friday, and defeated Yale 6-3 on Sunday.

Wang, Harvard's No. 1 player, lost a close match to Brown's Sangakkara in three sets, 2-6, 7-6, 6-4. Wang retired from her match against Yale, which may have been her last court appearance for Harvard.

No. 2 Vedica Jain followed suit, losing to Brown's Julia Martynova in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.

The next three singles matches went in the Crimson's favor, as three younger members of the Harvard team stepped up to the challenge.

Freshmen Fleur Broughton and Andrea Magyera defeated the Bears in straight sets, while sophomore Sanaz Ghazal battled Brown's Leela Raju to a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 decision.

Martynova and Raju moved the match back in Brown's favor, winning No. 1 doubles 8-4. But the tandems of Ghazal and Broughton and Sarah McGinty and Roxanna Curto sailed to victories in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, 8-2 and 8-3 respectively.

On Sunday, the Crimson took the second through fifth singles positions against Yale. Jain defeated Naison-Phillips, 7-5, 6-4, while Magyera refused to give up a point to her opponent, Jackie Fu, winning 6-0, 6-0.

Ghazal, in the No. 4 slot, battled her way to a win over freshman Andrea Goldberg in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Broughton rounded out the singles wins, defeating Susie Hiniker, 6-3, 6-4.

Wang and McGinty were the only blemishes on the singles matches for the Crimson, as McGinty fell in three sets to Lauren Muehl, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

Wang, who returned recently from the sidelines with an almost career-ending shoulder injury, was unable to complete her match against Khanlarian, retiring in the first set.

"I won't be playing tomorrow," Wang said. "I'd like to be back for the regionals, so I'm taking it day by day. I'm giving myself a chance to relax, and hopefully I'll be ready by then."

Despite the presence of stellar players and a decent Ivy record, Dartmouth doesn't seem to be on the same level as the Crimson. With the packed schedule Harvard has faced all season, this final match should not worry the Crimson.

"We're expecting a tough match against Dartmouth tomorrow, but I think we definitely have the momentum right now. Our confidence has been building with each match," Ghazal said. "We've played and we definitely feel ready to take sole possession of the Ivy crown tomorrow. But we're not expecting to take it without a fight."

So Dartmouth beware. The Crimson doesn't want to share.