Harvard Soars Through First Round of ITAs

The Harvard women’s tennis team represented itself well during opening action at the Wilson/ITA Women’s East Regional Championships at the Lichtenberg Tennis Center in West Point, N.Y. over the weekend.

All five members of the Crimson in the singles draw won on Saturday after first round byes, including No. 4 seed Eva Wang, No. 5 Melissa Anderson, No. 9 Preethi Mukundan, and No. 10 Laura Peterzan. Wang, Anderson and Peterzan all were victorious again yesterday, advancing to the round of 16.

Sophomore Stephanie Schnitter was not seeded in the singles draw, but had perhaps the most impressive showing of the five. Schnitter knocked off Jessica Siebel, Princeton’s No. 1 singles player, and Lynzee Keever, Marshall’s No. 1, before winning again yesterday to join her teammates in the Sweet 16.

The combination of co-captains Anderson and Elsa O’Riain, seeded No. 1 in the doubles draw following impressive showings in this fall’s tournament circuit, cut through the first two rounds to move to the field of 16.

“We didn’t really expect straightaway to play so well,” O’Riain said. “But we’ve gelled quickly [and] now we expect to win these matches here pretty comfortably.”

The pairs of Mukundan-Peterzan and Schnitter-Wang also won both their matches yesterday to move on.

Singles and doubles action resumes today, with the finals to be held tomorrow. The doubles champion and both singles finalists will earn a berth in the ITA National Collegiate Indoor Championships, which will be held from Nov. 3-6 at the Racquet Club of Columbus, Ohio.

—CALEB W. PEIFFER