SEASON RECAP: League Domination Continues in Undefeated Fashion

It was a schizophrenic season for the Harvard women’s tennis team.

The Crimson was its usual dominant self in the league portion of the schedule. Harvard punished the weaker sisters of the Ancient Eight, outscoring league opponents 44-5 to finish an undefeated 7-0 for the fourth straight season. The campaign helped the Crimson run its winning streak against Ivy opponents to 32 straight matches dating back to 2002. Senior Eva Wang and freshman Laura Peterzan, who both went 7-0 in league singles play, were named Ivy Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, respectively, earning spots on the All-Ivy singles first team. In addition, the No. 1 doubles tandem of co-captains Melissa Anderson and junior Elsa O’Riain went unbeaten in league play, earning a unanimous selection to the all-Ivy first doubles team.

“Almost all of [the Ivy teams] play us now expecting to lose,” Anderson said. “Although they really, really want to beat us, they expect to lose and they know it’s going to be tough.”

Against non-league opponents, Harvard was far from invulnerable.

The Crimson began the spring season with three consecutive wins, including a victory over No. 6 Georgia. After a loss to No. 1 Stanford, the Crimson came back to post wins over South Alabama and Sacramento State, advancing to No. 9 in the national poll.

That ranking, however, would prove to be the season’s high-water mark. Harvard was cursed by inconsistency in the rest of the non-league slate, losing to No. 15 Notre Dame, TCU and No. 28 William and Mary, defeats that prevented Harvard from earning a top-16 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Harvard entered the tournament 18-6, ranked No. 17. The Crimson’s first-round opponent was No. 43 Purdue. The Boilermakers had never made it past the first round, but they handled the favored Crimson in a 4-2 decision, leading to Harvard’s second first-round upset loss in three years.

On the individual side of the ledger, Wang fell in the first round of the NCAA singles championship and the Anderson/O’Riain combo met with similar disappointment in losing to Florida’s Whitney Benik and Alexis Gordon in the first round.

Despite the team’s inability to advance on the national stage, the Crimson enjoyed another historic season, headlined by the emergence of the dominant Anderson/O’Riain tandem. Anderson and O’Riain won the doubles crowns at both the Cissie Leary Memorial tournament and the ITA Eastern Regionals in the fall season, finishing with a 31-7 overall record.

There was also the unprecedented fourth straight undefeated league season, giving seniors Anderson, Wang and Lyly Cao Minh a perfect 28-0 Ivy record in their tenure.

“It’s pretty special for us,” Anderson said. “To come in here and be the first to win four years in a row, it’s a big deal.”

—Staff writer Caleb W. Peiffer can be reached at cpeiffer@fas.harvard.edu.