Rejuvenated Crimson Plays for Ivy Title

Looking back on last year’s disappointing 2-17 season, Harvard coach Traci Green set a clear goal for the women’s tennis team at the beginning of this season: become the Ivy League’s most improved team.

The Crimson (12-8, 5-1 Ivy) has far exceeded expectations, and the squad is in a position to grab a share of the Ivy League title today if it defeats Dartmouth (8-13, 2-4) at the Beren Tennis Center.

Although reconstructing a team each year can be difficult, the addition of five freshmen to the roster has added a great deal of enthusiasm and force to the team.

“I think one of the main success stories of this year’s club has been our work ethic and our team’s dedication to work each week,” Green said. “The freshmen have brought a great deal of energy to our squad. I feel like our upperclassmen are building off their energy, and I think we’re really excited to compete for the Ivy title.”

Despite the opportunity to play for a championship, the Crimson’s success didn’t come easily.

After starting the season 2-5, including a close loss to Dartmouth in the ECAC Championships in February, Harvard won five out of six over its spring break trip to California to spark its Ivy League success.

“We weren’t quite there [at the beginning of the season],” sophomore Agnes Sibilski said. “We played some other matches, but we knew that the Ivy games were the most important, so we wanted to try and get everyone to peak at this time. It definitely happened, and everyone was really focused coming into the Ivy League.”

One of the keys to the Crimson’s success was making sure that the team developed into a tight and supportive group.

Throughout the season, the team stressed recognizing the importance of team unity, something that can be difficult given the individualistic nature of tennis.

“We’ve built a really cohesive team,” sophomore Samantha Rosekrans said. “If one person is not on top of their game, someone else will step up theirs. Every time we go out not everyone can bring their best day, so I think we’ve been able to work out a system where everyone is really supportive.”

This network of support has been significantly facilitated by the freshmen on the roster. Freshman Camille Jania became the first freshman since 2005 to open the dual season 3-1, and she and captain Laura Peterzan have dominated doubles, posting an 8-0 record this season.

Integrating the new members of the team and making sure they found their roles early was important for the upperclassmen.

“The biggest thing that we focused on, especially in the first half of the season, was the freshmen,” Sibilski said. “We really wanted to make sure that they knew exactly what a team was. That can be difficult with tennis, so we wanted to make sure the freshmen knew how tennis worked with our team. We realized early that we had a really good team, so that came pretty easily.”

Additionally, freshman Holly Cao rebounded from early-season injuries to post an impressive 7-1 record. The Crimson attributes its success to playing as a team and collectively reaching toward the same goal, despite the many notable individual performances.

“Holly has been great a role model for us…she definitely leads by example,” Rosekrans said. “Still, everyone is just doing their share. No one sees it as a competition…everyone is on the same page and that has been really helpful.”

Perhaps where the unified nature of the women’s tennis team best displays itself has been in the doubles performance. Harvard has secured all but one doubles point in its Ivy League matches, and has only dropped six overall this season.

“I think that this year we’ve definitely had a strong doubles lineup,” senior Beier Ko said. “Even though it’s one point, it can definitely be huge in a match.”

As Ko will play her last home match of her illustrious career today, she cannot help but reiterate the special relationship of the team.

“This year has definitely been the closest I’ve felt to my teammates…they are my closest friends at Harvard,” Ko said. “I feel like we’ve all bonded in that way. They are a great bunch. Everyone has their own personality, and it is interesting to have all of the different characters on the team that add up to form a whole.”

The combination of this support, closeness, and skill has helped the players recreate their image and stay optimistic as they knock on the door of an 18th Ivy title.

“We’re a totally different team than we were in February,” Green said. “I feel like our squad is much more confident, more competent, and we are prepared to beat anybody that comes in our path.”