M., W. Tennis Perfect in Ivy, Fall in NCAAs

For the second consecutive season the Harvard women's tennis team showed that it could take care of business within the confines of the Ivy League, but not outside it.

The Crimson (11-12, 7-0 Ivy) ran the table in league play, but stumbled through a 4-12 record against national-level competition, including a first-round exit from the NCAA tournament at the hands of No. 21 Fresno State.

Despite the limited services of its top player and captain Ivy Wang, Harvard fought its way to its second straight undefeated Ivy season.

But the Crimson struggled through a tough early-season schedule without Wang, the 1998 Ivy League Player of the Year, who was sidelined for much of the year with a severe shoulder injury.

The Crimson looked instead to the leadership and experience of juniors Vedica Jain and Roxanna Curto, as well as sophomore Sanaz Ghazal, to fill in.

Also helping the cause were freshmen Andrea Magyera, who was the 1999 Ivy Rookie of the Year, Fleur Broughton and Sarah McGinty.

Playing without its leader for the first time at the ECAC Championships, the Crimson fought valiantly in the first round of the tournament, battling to a 3-3 tie after the singles round of play before taking two out of three doubles matches to defeat the Bears 5-4.

The success was short-lived, however, as the Crimson suffered a tight 5-4 losses to Yale and Boston College to start the season on a sour note.

Despite the disappointing finish, Harvard was pleased with its ability to compete with a short-handed squad.

"Given that we were playing without Wang, which understandably, is a big loss, I thought we did great," Coach Gordon Graham said. "The fashion in which we played against Brown and Yale was heart-stopping, coming from behind in the last two matches. I think that this was a good experience to know that we can win without Ivy."

With newfound confidence, the Crimson opened its spring season against two of the nation's best teams: William and Mary and Virginia Commonwealth, then the No. 10- and No. 20-ranked teams in the country, respectively. The Crimson suffered a tough 7-2 loss to a clearly superior William and Mary squad, despite impressive showings from Ghazal and Broughton.

Harvard then seemed poised to give VCU all it could handle, and it didn't disappoint. After falling behind 4-2 through singles play, the Crimson teams of Jain/Magyera and Curto/McGinty pulled out doubles wins to even the match.

The upset was not to be, however, as Ghazal and Broughton were unable to pull out their No. 1 doubles match, and Harvard fell 5-4.

After a brief winning interlude--a 7-2 decision over Richmond in its home opener--the Crimson took to the road against highly touted Mississippi and Vanderbilt, and despite some gutsy play, was trounced 9-0 by each.

Things got no easier for Harvard, as No. 26 Miami came to town next. In the singles portion of the competition every match was highly contested, with three of the six going to three sets. The Crimson could only manage to pull out one of them, though--Curto's three-set win at No. 6. Miami clinched the match after the singles round and won 6-3.

Facing stiff competition on its spring trip--Baylor, Houston, Texas A&M and Pepperdine--the Crimson managed only one win, dropped contests to Baylor, Texas A&M and Pepperdine 5-4, 5-4 and 7-2, respectively. Harvard topped only Houston by a 5-4 final.

After a grueling non-conference schedule, the Crimson began its title defense with spankings of Columbia and Cornell on the road by the scores of 7-2 and 8-1.

The Crimson then faced its toughest test of the season, drawing Princeton and Penn on back-to-back days at home. The Tigers and Quakers represented the teams most likely to supplant Harvard as champion.

Wang's return highlighted the weekend series and gave Harvard some crucial momentum. Against Princeton, Wang and Jain, playing at No. 2 and No. 1, each overcame first-set losses to take their individual matches, setting the pace. Magyera also won at No. 3, but Princeton took the No. 4-6 matches to even the overall score at 3-3 heading into the doubles round.

The Crimson won at Nos. 2 and 3 to seal a 5-4 victory.

With this tight match in hand, Harvard entered the Penn match brimming with confidence. Behind Wang--who was back at her customary No. 1 slot--the Crimson romped 8-1.

Harvard avoided let-downs against Brown and Yale the next weekend with 5-4 and 6-3 victories, and the following week, the Crimson completed its perfect 7-0 Ivy season with a 6-3 win over Dartmouth.

Though it dropped a 5-1 decision to cross-town rival Boston University in its final regular-season tune-up, Harvard confidently set its sights on No. 21 Fresno State, its first round opponent.

The No. 47 Crimson was the clear underdog heading into the match, but with big match play experience under its belt, the team remained positive about its chances of surprising the Bulldogs.

Unfortunately it was not to be, as Fresno State simply proved too powerful. Wang dropped her match against Dora Djilianova, the No. 6 ranked player in the country, and three other Crimson players followed suit. Only wins by Jain and Broughton kept Harvard in the match after singles competition.

In the doubles round, however, the Bulldogs buckled down, winning all three matches, taking the contest by a final of 7-2.

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

Despite being eliminated from NCAAs in the first round for the second straight year, Harvard players felt that the season was far from a disappointment.

The Crimson spent much of the season without team leader Wang, and when she did play, it was not at 100 percent. That, plus some success with a difficult non-conference schedule, gives Harvard plenty to be proud of in 1999.