W. Tennis Upsets No. 15 Huskies

The Harvard women’s tennis team refused to believe that it was out of its league in the Minnesota Classic last weekend.

The No. 39 Crimson (4-2) pulled off a major upset over No. 15 Washington in the semifinals Saturday with a 4-3 win, but then was itself upset 4-3 by No. 71 Minnesota in the finals.

Harvard’s triumph over the Huskies comes less than a week after its 7-0 bulldozing of No. 79 South Florida. Since the Crimson’s spring schedule features 11 ranked opponents—and begins with five of these matches in a row—this victory suggests an exceptionally bright outlook for the young Harvard team.

The Crimson now has two weeks off before its next competition, when it travels back to Florida to face No. 42 Florida International on Feb. 15.

Minnesota 4 Harvard 3

The match came down to the No. 4 singles matchup between No. 88 freshman Eva Wang and the Gophers’ Jeannette Cluskey. Though Wang took the first set in a tiebreaker, the Minnesota junior rebounded to claim the second set in the same fashion before cruising to a 6-0 third set victory to seal the championship.

The Crimson had jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead by sweeping all three doubles matches against the Golden Gophers. The No. 31 sophomore duo of Courtney Bergman and Susanna Lingman had the closest contest, taking the No. 1 match 8-6.

Captain Sanja Bajin and sophomore Alexis Martire paired for an easy 8-2 win, while freshmen phenoms Melissa Anderson and Wang took their match 8-3.

Harvard’s lead didn’t last, as Minnesota edged its way back into the competition with wins at No. 2, 3 and 6 singles.

But Bergman, the Crimson’s highest-ranked player at No. 19 in the nation, trumped her opponent 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1, and Anderson came from behind to pull out a gritty three-setter, 1-6, 7-6, 7-5, at No. 5 singles.

Harvard 4, Washington 3

For the matchup against the Huskies, the doubles point proved to be far more indicative than against the Gophers. After Wang and Anderson started the action with an 8-4 win in the third spot, Washington fought back with an 8-4 victory of its own at second doubles.

Bergman and Lingman faced the No. 3 pairing of Claire Carter and Darija Klaic in the No. 1 spot and soon found themselves in a 7-4 hole. The sophomores were able to rattle off four straight points before taking the match 9-8, giving Harvard the doubles point.

The Crimson was then able to secure the win after just four singles matches. The lower portion of the lineup secured easy victories, with No. 5 Bajin and No. 6 Anderson conceding just five points combined.

Lingman, ranked No. 64 in the nation, faced No. 42 Klaic again at second singles with a chance to clinch the match. With a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win, Lingman sent Harvard to the finals against Minnesota.

In another rematch between the No. 1 doubles competitors, Bergman suffered a rare defeat with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 loss to No. 80 Carter.

—Staff writer Brenda E. Lee can be reached at belee@fas.harvard.edu.