W. Tennis Falls to Fresno St. in First Round

Despite a valiant effort on Saturday afternoon, the Harvard women's tennis team just couldn't cut the mustard.

No. 21 Fresno St. (23-6) dispatched the Crimson (11-12, 7-0 Ivy) in the first round of the NCAA tournament this weekend, winning the team competition by a score of 7-2.

On a very windy day, Harvard found itself with its back against the wall from the outset, as all of the Crimson's singles competitors lost their first sets. Fresno St. continued to apply the pressure, as it finished off four of the six Harvard competitors.

At the No.1 slot, captain Ivy Wang--battling a shoulder injury that has kept her on the sideline for most of the season-- fought hard against her Fresno St. counterpart, Dora Djilianova, the No. 6 ranked player in the nation. After dropping the first set, Wang forced a tiebreaker in the second, before dropping the contest.

Freshman Andrea Magyera and junior Roxanna Curto--playing in the No. 3 and No. 6 spots, respectively--also battled before succumbing in straight sets.

Sophomore Sanaz Ghazal, at No. 4, forced her opponent to the limit. Ghazal clawed back to win the second set after dropping the first, before finally falling in three.

The Crimson, however, would not quit. Junior Vedica Jain, playing in the No. 2 position, battled back from her one-set deficit, to take the second and third frames, putting Harvard on the board.

The Crimson was able to pull out another win in the singles portion of the meet, with freshman Fleur Broughton--playing at No. 5--also pulling out a three-set victory, keeping Harvard alive heading into the doubles portion of the meet.

In her win, Broughton showed a flair for the dramatic, fighting off several match points before forcing a tiebreaker and finally pulling out the victory.

"It seems like fighting off match points is starting to be my thing," Broughton said. "Towards the end of my match I knew we were down 4-1, so I needed to win to give us a chance in doubles. After the win, we were all really excited and pumped."

The Crimson was especially confident entering the doubles matches, given that Fresno St. had previously lost several meets in the doubles round after entering with a 4-2 lead. That fact, coupled with Harvard's strong pairs play, had the Crimson optimistic about its chances.

"We had heard that Fresno St. had lost several times in the doubles round," Broughton said, "so going into doubles we were very confident."

But, it was not to be, as Harvard was unable to manage a single doubles victory.

The duos of Magyera and Jain; Broughton and Ghazal; and Curto and freshman Sarah McGinty all dropped their matches as Harvard fell to Fresno St. by a total score of 7-2.

Despite the disappointing finish to the season, however, Harvard came out of the match with its head held high, proud of the season's accomplishments. Having won the Ivy League championship with a perfect 7-0 league record, the Crimson still considers the season a success.

"We were definitely disappointed with the loss against Fresno St.," Broughton said, "but we are still happy with what we accomplished. We improved so much over the season."