Women's Tennis Drops Pair of Home Ivy Matches

Despite a five-match winning streak that spanned spring break, the Harvard women’s tennis team (10-8, 0-2 Ivy) fell to Cornell (12-7, 1-2 Ivy) and Columbia (13-4, 3-0 Ivy) this past weekend at home. Its recent success in California over the break included victories against multiple non-Ivy teams—Providence, Rhode Island, Loyola Marymount, UCSB, and Fresno State. However, the Crimson was unable to carry the momentum home for its first two Ancient Eight matches.

“It was definitely a tough weekend,” junior June Lee said. “I think all Ivy teams are going to be tough matches because it really comes down to a few points here and there, and I think that’s arguably what it came down to against Cornell and Columbia.”

NO. 37 COLUMBIA, 4, HARVARD, 3

Taking on arguably the Ivy League’s toughest team, Harvard fell to Columbia in a match at the Murr Center on Saturday afternoon.

“Columbia is the best in the league right now,” freshman Sabrina Xiong said. “However, we almost had it and I think that that shows we are at their level and can definitely beat them next time.”

Unlike its previous game against Cornell, the Crimson did not prevail in the doubles category, forfeiting the point to Columbia. The top pairing of Xiong and sophomore Annika Ringblom fell in a 6-1 loss. Likewise, the No. 3 pairing of sophomore Nikki Kallenberg and freshman Isabel Jasper fell, 6-3.

The Lions secured victory after winning the days first three singles matches. However, the final three softened the blow as Harvard managed to reduce its margin of defeat.

Harvard’s No. 4 Ringblom topped Columbia sophomore Alexandra Solovyev, avenging her loss to her in doubles, in a 6-2, 6-1 victory. In a closer singles match, No. 5 Xiong managed to prevail over her Lion counterpart in a 6-2, 7-6 victory. In the final match of the day, captain Amy He sweetened the taste of defeat for the Crimson in the fifth spot, sweeping both sets, 6-0, 6-0.

“Against Columbia, we did better than expected and it really just came down to a matter of one singles match,” Lee said. “We just need to keep practicing hard this week to pick up the wind for our matches against Penn and Princeton.”

CORNELL, 4, HARVARD, 3

Harvard dropped its first Ivy League match of the season in a close 4-3 contest against Cornell on Friday night.

“I think we did a really good job handling our first Ivy League match this weekend,” freshman Sabrina Xiong said. “I was extremely nervous, but we all played really well and, even though we lost, that definitely showed in our performance. I think we’ve certainly improved since the beginning of the season”

The team started off strong with twin victories in the doubles category to secure the all-important doubles point. The top pairing of Lee and freshman Erica Oosterhout attained the first victory of the day, beating its opponents in a 6-1 match. In the No. 2 doubles pairing, Xiong and sophomore Annika Ringblom bested the Big Red, walking away with a 6-4 victory.

The Crimson failed to translate its momentum into the singles play, allowing Cornell to clinch four out of the six matches. Nevertheless, the two Harvard athletes who won the singles victories for the team had also been the victors in their respective doubles events—Oosterhout, playing from the third position, defeated Cornell’s sophomore Lizzie Stewart in a 6-3, 6-1 match, and Xiong, got the upper hand against the Big Red’s senior Jane Stewart in a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 match from the fifth slot.