Women's Tennis Drops Two More Matches to Fall to 0-6

Faced with two ranked opponents for the second consecutive weekend, the Harvard women’s tennis team fell to Virginia and Vanderbilt, remaining winless on the season.

Playing in the Murr Center on the third weekend of the spring season, against its fourth and fifth ranked opponents of the year, the No. 54 Crimson (0-6) fell, 4-3, to the No. 28 Cavaliers (5-2) and dropped a 6-1 decision to the No. 25 Commodores (5-5).

“We’re looking for moral victories here,” Harvard coach Gordon Graham said. “This is one of the toughest schedules the Harvard’s women’s tennis team has ever had.”

VANDERBILT 6, HARVARD 1

The Crimson opened the match against Vanderbilt flat, getting swept for the doubles point.

“That took the wind out of our sails early,” Graham said.

The match only became tougher as singles play began.

Harvard seemed to receive a break when the top player for the Commodores, No. 35 Amanda Fish, sat out the singles to ice here heel area. Nevertheless, with three more singles players ranked in the top 100 nationally, Vanderbilt proved too deep for the Crimson to handle.

Playing at the first singles spot, Harvard freshman Lena Litvak opened the match competitively against No. 64 Amanda Taylor. With the score tied 3-3 in the first set, Taylor went on a run, winning the next nine games to take the match, 6-3, 6-0.

No. 56 sophomore Beier Ko provided the day’s only bright spot for the Crimson. Ko scored Harvard’s solitary point, defeating No. 96 Taka Bertrand, 6-1, 7-5.

“Beier really had to take care of business today,” Gordon said. “She was hurting. She had tired legs and not enough rest. Typical Harvard stuff.”

The Crimson was overwhelmed in the remainder of the singles matches. Captain Preethi Mukundan lost, 6-1, 6-2. And freshman Elizabeth Brook, senior Julia Forgie, and junior Vilsa Curto, also a Crimson editor, all lost in straight sets.

“We played against a team of grinders,” Mukundan said. “They were just solid all around. They made us play an extra ball each time.”

VIRGINIA 4, HARVARD 3

Harvard’s doubles play against the Cavaliers demonstrated the toughness Graham prizes in his players. Both of the Crimson’s top two doubles teams faced double match point, with Mukundan and Brook down 7-4 and Litvak and Bo trailing, 7-6. Both pairs fought back, winning their matches 9-7 to capture the doubles point.

“That was such an exciting match,” Graham said. “That never happens. We were so pumped and energized. We had a good crowd and they were pumped too.”

The Crimson moved into the singles needing to capture three of the six matchups to score its first win of the season. Brook, Forgie and Curto lost at the fourth, fifth and sixth positions, respectively, meaning Harvard’s top three of Mukundan, Ko, and Litvak had to sweep their matches for the victory.

Litvak won quickly, ripping off a 6-4, 6-1 victory over UVA’s Brintney Larson. Mukundan, however, lost, 6-4, 6-2, to Maggie Yahner. With the match already decided, Ko pulled out a three-set victory over Jennifer Stevens, winning 3-6, 6-3, 7-6.

For the third time this year, the Crimson won the doubles point but lost more than half of the singles matches to lose overall, something Graham noted was unusual.

The inexperience of Harvard’s bottom two singles players—former club players Curto and Forgie—places extra pressure on the Crimson’s top players to be perfect.

Undeterred, Curto and Forgie are doing their best to catch up.

“Vilsa and Julie have taken this opportunity to jump to the varsity and have really taken advantage of it,” Graham said. “They’re working harder than everybody. They’re trying to make up for lost time, and they’ve been up against tough competition every week.”

The Crimson goes on the road next weekend against No. 10 William and Mary and No. 6 Northwestern.

—Staff writer Tyler D. Sipprelle can be reached at sipprell@fas.harvard.edu.