Women's Tennis Splits Weekend Matches

The Harvard women’s tennis team split two matches this past weekend, earning a win over the University of Rhode Island after falling to Boston College on Saturday. The loss to the Eagles ended a six-match home win streak for the Crimson.

In a contest closer than the score might indicate, Harvard (5-2) fell to BC, 5-2, but bounced back on Sunday to take down the Rams in a 6-1 victory. Some team members were forced to play a spot higher on the ladder this weekend, as freshman June Lee and captain Hannah Morrill struggled with illness and injuries.

“Of course it wasn’t great to have lost to BC, but they’re definitely a tough opponent,” junior Sylvia Li said. “We put up a good fight, and the results didn’t really go our way, but we were able to bounce back to beat Rhode Island the next day, which was really solid.”

HARVARD 6, RHODE ISLAND 1

The Crimson returned to its winning ways on Sunday, cruising to a clean victory over URI (2-3). After struggling in close matches against Boston College on Saturday, the team breezed through its Rams opponents by notching victories in doubles and in five of six singles matches.

“Even though we lost, that kind of gave us more of an incentive to go out there the next day against Rhode Island and get back and redeem ourselves,” freshman Spencer Liang said. “We wanted to win matches and work on things that we wanted to improve on from the day before.”

Liang returned to top form in her second match of the weekend after falling in both doubles and singles against the Eagles. The freshman ace teamed up with classmate Monica Lin to down the Eagles, 8-1, in the first doubles match. Liang then followed up that performance with a dominant win of her own at first singles.

Monica Lin also swept her opponent at second singles to earn her sixth win of the dual meet season. With another victory coming at second doubles from sophomores Amanda Lin and Amy He to give the Crimson the point, Harvard found itself up, 3-0, and on the verge of taking the match early. He would finally clinch the victory for the Crimson at third singles.

“It felt great to finish off the weekend with a win,” Liang said. “We were all proud of ourselves finishing strong. Even though we had unfortunate results against BC, we were proud of the fact that we turned it around and beat Rhode Island pretty handedly.”

The Crimson’s only loss on the day came in the fifth spot, where Li lost a tight match against URI’s Kathleen Uy in a tiebreaker. After dropping the first set, 4-7, Li battled back to take the second in a 6-4 decision but was ultimately outlasted in the tiebreaker, 8-10.

BOSTON COLLEGE 5, HARVARD 2

In a battle between crosstown rivals, the Crimson came out on the losing end on Saturday. The Eagles (7-0) preserved their undefeated record with the win, which came after a match that lasted four hours and was tight from start to finish.

“I think it was definitely closer than the score would indicate,” Liang said. “Sometimes the score doesn’t reflect the play or, of course, the points within each game. In my match, I was right there with [my opponent], and I think on another day the results might have been different. But she was a great player and she deserved to win that day.”

The match was won for BC at third singles, where Jenny Ren clinched the victory with a three-set win over Morrill. The Harvard captain was leading, 6-5, in the second set when Ren ran off 10 points in a row to take the set and seize the momentum.

BC captured the early advantage in the doubles matches, as the Eagles dominated the Crimson at all three positions. Jessica Wacnik and Lexi Borr started the evening off for BC with an 8-4 win over Liang and Monica Lin. Shortly thereafter, a come-from-behind victory at the second position would clinch the doubles point for the Eagles.

Monica Lin evened the match up with an efficient, 6-2, 6-1 win at second singles, but ensuing losses in the first and sixth positions gave BC a commanding, 3-1 lead early in the match. Harvard’s only other win came in the fifth spot, where Amanda Lin swept Heini Salonen.

—Staff writer Glynis K. Healey can be reached at ghealey@college.harvard.edu.