SPORTS BRIEF: Women’s tennis team rolls over Rice, fights for split with Virginia

As of the second day of the three-day Harvard Women’s Tennis invitational, held from Friday through Sunday at the Murr Center tennis courts, the Crimson had dominated Rice in both singles and doubles competition, while splitting matches with the University of Virginia in both singles and doubles play.

The duo of senior Elsa O’Riain and sophomore Beier Ko set the tone for the Crimson in its doubles matches with Rice, defeating the Owls’ Tiffany Lee and Julie Chao 8-2.

Harvard would win three out the four doubles matches it played against Rice, with the tandem of sophomore Catriona Stewart and freshman Elizabeth Brook suffering the lone doubles loss, an 8-4 defeat.

In its singles matchups with the Owls, the Crimson was even more dominant, winning six out of seven matches. Brook took the lone loss, falling to Rice’s Emily Braid in three sets 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Against Virginia, the competition was a little bit more even-handed.

In doubles play, O’Riain claimed another victory, this time when paired with sophomore Laura Peterzan. Junior Stephanie Schnitter and freshman Lena Litvak also prevailed in their doubles match, winning 8-5.

The Cavaliers, however, took two matches of their own to break even with Harvard in the doubles category.

In singles play, the Crimson was able to gain a slight edge, winning three out of five matches.

The most dominant victories belonged to Litvak and Ko, who won their matches in straight sets.

Schnitter also earned a win over Virginia’s Caroline Hammond, recovering from some early hiccups and a close second set to finish the match strong with a 2-6, 7-6, 6-0 win.

The event marked the last action that Harvard will see for quite some time, as the Crimson will not return to the courts until January 28, when it will make the short trip into Boston to take on Boston University.