Ranked Foes Drop Harvard Twice

Against strong competition, the Crimson women’s tennis team was unable to pull out a victory this weekend in the ITA Division I Kickoff Weekend. Four top-50 squads met in Evanston, Ill., to take part in the event, which was held this weekend in 15 sites nationwide. No. 44 Harvard (1-2) lost to No. 20 Northwestern (1-2), 5-0, on Saturday and fell a match short yesterday against No. 38 Boise State (3-1).

“Overall, I thought they got some good matches and good experience,” Harvard coach Traci Green said. “The most important thing we take away from this weekend is that we got tougher and more experienced.”

NO. 38 BOISE STATE 4, HARVARD 3

The Broncos, fresh off a 5-2 loss to No. 34 Nebraska (1-0) on Saturday, played well against Harvard yesterday in a contest featuring two closely matched squads.

“We had our chances and we could have won, but a couple of matches didn’t go our way,” junior co-captain Holly Cao said.

Harvard opened the match by losing the doubles point for the third consecutive match this season. On the No. 3 court, freshman Hannah Morrill and sophomore Kristin Norton gave Boise State its first match with an 8-5 loss.

“In doubles, we got some slow starts and really couldn’t recover,” Green said.

Cao and Samantha Rosekrans, Harvard’s other co-captain, tied the doubles score with a win on the No. 1 court, 8-6.

“It was a very close match. But we stayed tough and ultimately we were able to close it out,” Cao said.

Next to them, freshman Natalie Blosser and sophomore Hideko Tachibana were edged out of a win, falling, 8-6, giving the Broncos a 1-0 advantage moving into singles.

In singles, No. 46 Cao didn’t lose a game in either set against Boise State’s Lauren Megale to even up the score.

“Holly was really on fire in singles,” Green said. “She’s a really special player for us. She came out on fire and pretty much ran through her opponent.”

But the Broncos took the upper hand for a second time when Blosser lost to Marlena Pietzuch, 6-0, 6-1.

Boise State then moved within a point of clinching with Morgan Basil’s 6-1, 6-3 victory over Morrill.

Norton kept Harvard’s hopes alive with a 6-3, 6-2 win on the No 3 court.

“She really rebounded from her match against Northwestern,” Green said. “She took it upon herself to get the job done on her court today.”

The Broncos clinched the match when Samantha Gridley lost to Elyse Edwards on the No. 5 court, 6-1, 7-5.

Despite the team loss, Tachibana kept fighting against Sonia Klamczynska on the No. 2 court until she earned herself a 7-6, 6-4 win.

“[Tachibana] is really stepping up and becoming a leader on our team,” Green said. “She’s becoming more vocal and working not only on encouraging her teammates but also holding them accountable.”

NO. 20 NORTHWESTERN 5, HARVARD 0

On Saturday, the Crimson squared off against a Northwestern squad featuring four of the 125 top women in the ITA rankings. Despite its effort, the team could not earn a point.

“We really respect them as opponents,” Green said. “Northwestern just competed much better than we did. We need to find a way to win next time.”

In doubles, on the No. 3 court, Morrill and Norton lost two late service games to fall, 8-5. Cao and Rosekrans also fell, 8-5, on No. 1 court to the Wildcats’ No. 30 duo of Linda Abu Mushrefova and Nida Hamilton, while Blosser and Tachibana could not fight their way back from an early deficit and lost, 8-4.

To begin singles play, Northwestern’s No. 76 Belinda Niu recorded a 6-1, 6-0 win against Norton at No. 3, while Stacey Lee outplayed Gridley to give Northwestern its third point with a 6-3, 6-2 score on the No. 6 court. The Wildcats clinched the match on at No. 4 when Rosekrans fell to No. 120 Kate Turvy, 6-3, 6-4. Afterward, Tachibana fell to No. 66 Brittany Wowchuk at No. 2, 6-4, 6-2.

Cao’s No. 1 singles match against No. 52 Maria Mosolova went unfinished due to Northwestern’s clinching the match, despite Cao’s 7-5 first set victory, and her 4-2 lead in the second. Cao lost to Masolova in three sets last May in the opening round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Singles Championship.

“I was really happy with the way I played,” Cao said. “I executed my game plan. It was a very high quality match.”

“Holly was in control, but unfortunately she didn’t get to finish,” Green said.

At No. 5, Blosser’s match went unfinished as well, though she had been poised to even up the set score, holding a 5-4 lead in the second set after dropping the first 7-6 (2).

—Staff writer Eric L. Michel can be reached at emichel@fas.harvard.edu.