Women's Tennis Goes Down In Season Opener

The Harvard women’s tennis team found itself playing from behind for most of the day against Cornell, and with the Big Red up 3-1 and looking for the clinching point, the Crimson had one final opportunity to break through.

Harvard freshman Sabrina Xiong took the first set of her match, while sophomore Nikki Kallenberg came back from a 6-0 loss in her first set to win the second, 6-2. With all of the momentum on her team’s side, captain Amy He had a chance to put the Crimson firmly in the driver’s seat. After dropping her first set, 6-3, she was up 5-3 in the second and serving for the tie.

However, He’s opponent, Cornell sophomore Lizzie Stewart, caught fire and reeled off four straight games to put her away, 6-3, 7-5. Though Xiong and Kallenberg went on to win their matches, Stewart’s strong finish had already clinched the overall dual-match victory for the Big Red.

While Cornell (2-0, 1-0 Ivy) now looks to continue its strong start to the season after its 4-3 triumph, Harvard (0-1, 0-1 Ivy) must regroup ahead of a busy schedule in the next few weeks.

“Overall, I’m pleased with how the team competed today,” Crimson coach Traci Green said. “We need to work on our consistency and first serve percentages, but in general, I’m proud of our effort.”

The battle for the doubles point to start the day was close, as each match finished with the same 6-4 margin. The Big Red was able to grind out two wins to Harvard’s one, however, taking the doubles point and a slim advantage heading into singles.

The Crimson’s only doubles victory came courtesy of senior Amanda Lin and sophomore Annika Ringblom, the No. 52 ranked pairing nationally according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). The duo remains undefeated this season, moving to 5-0.

“I thought doubles could have gone either way,” Green said. “When you play one set, it goes by quickly and you don’t really have time to adjust. Today, it came down to just a few points here and there.”

Cornell used the momentum from its strong performance in doubles to seize control early in the singles matches too. Big Red players won the first set in four of the six contests.

Only freshmen Erica Oosterhout and Sabrina Xiong won first sets for Harvard, despite the fact that they were also the only ones playing their first official dual-match. Both went on to win in straight sets, with Oosterhout defeating Cornell senior Jane Stewart, 7-5, 6-2, and Xiong overcoming Big Red sophomore Priyanka Shah, 6-4, 6-3.

“It was exciting to be back on the court,” Xiong said. “We didn’t win today but it was good to play Cornell, some Ivy competition. It’s a good starting point for us.”

Of the four Crimson players who lost their first set, only Kallenberg was able to come back to force a third set, against Alexandra D’Ascenzo. Though the Big Red had clinched a victory in the overall proceedings by the time they played the final set, it still proved to be a thrilling encounter.

After reaching 6-6, with Kallenberg coming back from being broken two times, the set went to a tiebreaker that was just as tightly contested. Kallenberg prevailed 7-4, finishing off the back-and-forth, 0-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4), victory.

“In the first set, she came out fast and ran away with it,” Kallenberg said. “I made some adjustments that helped me in the second set, but then in the third, she made her own. The third set was when we were both at our best. My experience definitely helped me pull that one out.”

The No. 125 player in the nation according to the ITA rankings, Kallenberg will look to continue drawing on her experience playing as the Harvard No. 1 last year to help lead the team in 2016.

The game was one of many firsts, from being the first one of the year for the entire team to the first official dual-match in the two freshmen’s careers.

“The first match of the season provides something to build onto,” said Crimson team manager Alec Grigorian, who was also overseeing his first game. “Hopefully, it only gets better from here.”

–Staff writer George Hu can be reached at yianshenhu@college.harvard.edu.