Women's Tennis Competes at Indiana University Winter Invite to Start Spring Season

Coming into the weekend, the Harvard women’s tennis team knew it would be tested against top-tier opponents at the Indiana University Winter Invite. And by the final doubles bout of the three-day tournament, a finale that saw captain Hannah Morrill and freshman June Lee defeat their Oregon opponents, 7-6 (9-7), the squad had more than met its match.

“I think the team did really well as a whole,” Lee said. “We’ve been playing well because we’ve been practicing hard, and we’re getting closer as a team.”

Though host and 41st ranked Indiana dominated on both the doubles and singles sides and finished with a 32-7 match record for the weekend, the 68th ranked Crimson hung tough throughout with other non-conference opponents. Besides the Hoosiers, the round robin style tournament featured 71st ranked Oregon, Abilene Christian, and Marquette.

“It was really exciting since we did well, and we got to see how [teams like Indiana] play considering their ranking,” Lee said. “It gives us motivation and encouragement to keep working and keep improving. We were right there with them.”

After going an undefeated 6-0 at the Harvard Invitational in November, Morrill nearly duplicated the effort at Bloomington, Ind. Morrill paired with freshman Monica Lin to defeat an Indiana duo on Sunday, 6-3, and won another doubles match against Marquette, 7-5. The Crimson pair fell for the first time this year in the next match against another Indiana doubles team. The captain switched things up a bit on Monday, pairing with Lee to win the nail-biter against Oregon in the tournament’s final match.

Harvard finished 7-8 overall on the weekend in doubles matches. The 34th ranked doubles pair of freshmen Spencer Liang and Monica Lin knocked off Oregon’s Nicole Long and Jasmine Minor, 6-2, on Monday afternoon.

The afternoon prior, Liang and Lee had joined to beat the Marquette duo of Vanessa Foltinger and Ana Pimienta.

In the first event of the 2014 season, the Crimson brought eight singles players to Indiana and left with both eight wins and eight losses.

Only Morrill managed to win both of her singles matches, defeating Indiana’s 118th ranked Gabby Rubenstein, 2-6, 6-4, 2-0 (10-5), on the first day of the event. The next morning, the senior hailing from Twickenham, England edged the Golden Eagle’s Vanessa Foltinger, 7-5, 6-3.

“Hannah was on fire this weekend,” Lee said. “She really stayed collected on the court and fought her way through every match.”

Besides Morrill, Lee, junior Sylvia Li, and freshman Danielle Mirda recorded victories for Harvard on Saturday afternoon, with Mirda rallying to beat the Wildcats’ Emily Conrad, 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8). Earlier in day, Li had beaten her Marquette opponent, 6-2, 6-4.

“I felt [the weekend] was really good practice for doubles and singles,” Li said. “I hadn’t faced an opponent from a different school in awhile…. I definitely hope in the next few weeks I can use [this] as a good baseline, but I definitely want to improve from there.”

With Mirda’s tough win and Li’s straight set victory, the Crimson managed a 4-4 record on Saturday, and each of Harvard’s losses was in straight sets. Both sophomore Amanda Lin and Monica Lin fell to Oregon opponents in straight sets, Amanda 6-4, 6-4, and Monica 6-1, 6-1.

Sunday morning saw the same 4-4 overall finish, but the losses were much closer the second time around. Lee turned her game up in the second set against the Hoosiers’ Carolyn Chupa, but the freshman came up just short, falling 6-1, 7-6 (7). Sophomore Amy He won her first set against her Oregon opponent, Sofia Hager, but lost the next two, 6-2, 1-0 (10-5).

After a loss on day one, Liang bounced back with a 6-1, 6-2 trouncing of the Ducks’ Minor, and Amanda Lin did the same, beating the Golden Eagle’s Erin Gebes, 6-4, 7-6 (1).

Having participated in only invites and championships in the fall, the Crimson still do not have a record. The squad travels to Gainesville, FL this weekend for the ITA Kickoff weekend before beginning dual meet competition in February.

“Even though [this weekend] was individual, and all the other events in the future are going to be dual, it’s still important that we get the match experience,” Li said. “[The rules] are changed a bit [in individual tournaments], so it was good to get experience with that before we have to jump straight into dual matches.”

—Staff writer Caleb Lee can be reached at caleblee@college.harvard.edu.