BRIEF: Women's Tennis Splits Weekend Matches in Nashville

Matched up against two ranked opponents over the weekend, the No. 50 Harvard women's tennis team (2-1) came away with a split at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Nashville, TN. One day after falling to No. 12 Vanderbilt (2-0) by a score of 4-0, the Crimson rebounded with 4-2 victory over No. 45 DePaul (0-2).

HARVARD 4, DEPAUL 2

The Crimson was quick to rebound on Sunday, picking up a 4-2 win to avoid falling below .500 for the first time since the 2011-2012 season. After winning the doubles point, Harvard took three of the five completed singles matches to come away with its second win of the year.

In the closest match of the day, sophomore June Lee earned a victory on court one, defeating Blue Demons' freshman Patricia Lacranjan in three sets, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-5.

For Lee, the win came on the heels of another victory over Lacranjan in doubles play. The sophomore pairing of Lee and Monica Lin defeated Lacranjan and senior Jasmin King, 7-6 (5), in a tiebreak to clinch the first point of the day for the Crimson.

Freshmen Nikki Kallenberg and Annika Ringblom won the day's first match over DePaul's pairing of juniors Jarret Fisher and Zaina Sufi, 6-3. Meanwhile, senior Sylvia Li and rookie Ellen Jang-Milsten fell to sophomore Yuliya Shupenia and senior Rebeca Mitrea of the Blue Demons, 4-6.

The success of Kallenberg and Ringblom carried over into singles play, as each rookie picked up a win in three sets. On court two, Kallenberg defeated DePaul junior Ana Vladutu, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, while Ringblom earned a win over Kling on court four, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Harvard lost its first two singles matches, with Lin and Jang-Milsten each coming up short in straight sets. But the Crimson responded with three consecutive singles wins, capped by Lee's three-set nail-biter, to come from behind and earn the win.

VANDERBILT 4, HARVARD 0

On Saturday, the Crimson had a difficult time handling the hosts of the event. Despite putting up a strong effort in doubles play, Harvard dropped three consecutive singles matches in straight sets, falling to the Commodores, 4-0.

Together, Lee and Lin fell to Vanderbilt's top pairing of sophomore Sydney Campbell and junior Courtney Colton, 3-6. Kallenberg and Ringblom were one game away from picking up a victory, but their match came to a halt after Li and Jang-Milsten dropped a close match to Commodore seniors Ashleigh Antal and Marie Casares, 5-6.

In singles play, Campbell won her second match of the day over Lee, 6-1, 6-1. Casares and Vanderbilt sophomore Astra Sharma also picked up wins over Ringblom and Jang-Milsten to round out the concluded matches.

Kallenberg had a chance to pick up a win on court two, as she led Colton, 6-5. But just like in doubles play, her match came to a premature end after the Commodores clinched the overall victory.

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jake.meagher@thecrimson.com.