Crimson Tripped up in Illinois

The No. 9 Harvard women’s tennis team has toiled all year to join the top-ten elite. But it hit a few obstacles last weekend, suffering consecutive road losses to No. 8 Northwestern on Friday and No. 15 Notre Dame on Sunday. The Crimson’s overall record now stands at 5-3.

“We were not performing up to what we’re capable of doing,” Harvard Coach Gordon Graham said. “In some places we were not performing as a total team effort.”

The Crimson traveled to the Midwest without its full lineup, as freshman Laura Peterzan was sidelined with a leg injury. Freshman Beier Ko, also injured, played at less than full speed against Northwestern and sat out against Notre Dame.

NOTRE DAME 5, HARVARD 2

The Irish (7-0) handed the Crimson its third loss of the season Sunday as its players dominated in both doubles and singles play at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.

“They were a really tough team, and definitely a rising team,” junior Cindy Chu said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to challenge them again in the future in the NCAAs.”

In doubles, co-captains Elsa O’Riain and Melissa Anderson, ranked sixth in the nation, came close to pulling an upset against the country’s No. 1 pair of Catrina and Christian Thompson, as the duo led, 6-5, late in the match. The All-American twins came back to tie the match and eventually triumph by a 9-8 margin, winning the tiebreak, 7-5.

Sophomore Stephanie Schnitter and senior Eva Wang at No. 2 and Chu and junior Preethi Mukundan at No. 3 fell to the Irish, whose pairs are ranked No. 35 and No. 45, by 8-1 scores.

Notre Dame won three straight singles contests to clinch the match as its No. 3, No. 6, and No. 4 singles players defeated Harvard’s Anderson, Chu, and Mukundan.

Anderson led, 3-0, in the first set of her match against the Irish’s Brook Buck, but ultimately fell in the tiebreaker 7-4 and dropped the second set by a 6-0 score. Chu faced a tough opponent in Katie Potts and lost her match, 6-1, 6-2. Notre Dame’s Kelcy Tefft prevailed, 6-3, 6-2, in her match against No. 67 Mukundan.

After losing the first set, 6-4, Wang rallied to win the second set, 6-3, but lost, 1-0 (10-1), in the third set to No. 24 Catrina Thompson.

Later, O’Riain defeated the other Thompson, ranked No. 44, by 7-5 scores in both sets to get the Crimson on the board. Schnitter gave the Crimson its second point of the match by defeating Kristina Stastny, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 1-0 (10-5).

NORTHWESTERN 4, HARVARD 3

As hard-fought as the battle was between Harvard and Northwestern (7-1) on Friday, the home team managed to deliver its crowd the victory at the Combe Tennis Center, winning the necessary three singles matches after clinching the doubles point.

“[Northwestern] took [the match] a lot more seriously than we did,” Wang said. “We definitely had chances, but it’s difficult playing away from home and having so many people cheering for the other team.”

O’Riain and Anderson continued to prove why they are in the top ten in doubles with a 9-8 victory over No. 8 Cristelle Grier and Alexis Prousis at the No. 1 court.

The win, however, came after the Wildcats had won, 8-0 and 8-4, in the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles positions to claim the first point of the match.

“We are struggling a bit in doubles,” Graham said. “We have some work to do there and in getting people healthy.”

Northwestern’s Prousis, ranked No. 12 in the nation, defeated Ko, 6-2, 6-0, in the No. 3 singles spot. The Wildcats’ Georgia Rose triumphed, 6-1, 6-3, over O’Riain to increase her team’s overall lead to 3-0.

Northwestern clinched the victory when No. 23 Grier topped Wang by a score of 6-4, 6-2 in the No. 1 position.

The Crimson returns to action on its home court this week, on Feb. 26, against No. 26 South Carolina. The last meeting between the two teams occurred in March 2004, when Harvard lost, 5-2, at South Carolina.

The team hopes that the return of both freshmen to the lineup will get Harvard rolling again.

“It’s hard because there are a lot of changes going on,” Wang said. “Once we get settled down we’ll feel a lot more stable.”

—Staff writer Barbara R. Barreno can be reached at barreno@fas.harvard.edu.