Women's Tennis Opens Fall Campaign at Harvard Fall Classic

Amidst both rain and heat, the Harvard women’s tennis team opened its fall season at the Harvard Fall Classic this weekend with a day one sweep and strong showings throughout.

“The Classic is always a great tournament,” sophomore Lexi Milunovich said. “We ended up having a very strong weekend as a team, and we got to have a lot of match play in while playing at home.”

The Classic featured seven East Coast teams besides the Crimson—Air Force, Boston College, Boston University, Buffalo, Delaware, Georgetown, and Connecticut.

Harvard junior Erica Oosterhout came back from a 0-1 deficit to take her first singles match against UConn senior Yelyzaveta Pletnyeva, 1-6, 6-4, 10-8. The comeback win contributed to the Crimson’s solid opening day, in which the team went undefeated in each of its 12 matches against BU and the Huskies. Oosterhout was also unbeaten in her three singles matches over the weekend, prevailing over Air Force sophomore TJ Fumagatti and Delaware sophomore Brooke Pilkington in two sets each.

“The first day...the team had to play at different times, which was kind of tough, and we did a great job supporting each other,” Milunovich said.

Despite not having played as a team since April, Harvard showed no rust on its opening day. The Crimson’s smooth sailing on Friday also featured singles and doubles shutouts against the Terriers, the former by sophomore Irene Lu, and the latter by captain Annika Ringblom and sophomore Jenna Friedel.

“Our opponents were tough, but we competed very hard,” Friedel said. “And we had the support of our teammates behind us, so that always helps out a lot. We came out with a lot of good energy, and found a way to win.”

Sophomore Natasha Gonzalez also emerged from the Classic undefeated in her singles matches, winning all three. She dispatched Delaware junior Draga Sabotic, 6-2, 6-0, in her final match on Sunday, and shares the team’s best record for the season (3-0) with Oosterhout.

“[Gonzalez and Oosterhout] both fought really hard and competed very well this weekend,” Friedel said, adding that their success came from the hard work and training of the past week.

The New England weather forced Harvard’s team, amongst others, to play both inside the Murr Center and outside.

“There are always going to be tough conditions, whether it be wind or match-time delays,” Milunovich said. “We’re going to be playing outside against Yale [for the Yale Bulldog Invite from Oct. 6-8], so it’s good that we got two out of three days outside.”

“Altogether, I don’t think it impacted any of our play,” added Friedel.

While the Fall Classic is an opportunity for the team as a whole to prepare for the rigors of the long tennis season, it’s especially handy for the Crimson’s freshmen to acclimatize to college play. First-years Jenna Moustafa, Anna Li, and Neha Gupta each had at least one dominant singles win. Li’s victory over BC sophomore Micayla Casella, 6-2, 6-1, was Harvard’s lone win against the Eagles in a singles match.

“They’re all strong players, and work hard in practice. [During] the match you could really see they all fought, and were there for us as well, cheering,” Milunovich said of the Crimson’s freshmen.

Also promising was the doubles pair of Gonzalez and Oosterhout; the duo won all three of its matches. Their 6-4 victory against Air Force junior Elizabeth Barnickel and Fumagatti was particularly nail-biting, and Milunovich emphasized how “mentally strong” Harvard’s tandem was throughout the game.

Not every match during the Classic was perfect, of course. The Crimson had a less than ideal record on Sunday against BC and the Blue Hens, going 4-5 in singles and 2-2 in doubles. While freshman Lia Kiam partnered with Gupta for a doubles win against Delaware, she dropped her singles match to Blue Hens freshman Sarah Whited, 1-6, 5-7. Milunovich fell to Sara Komer of Delaware, 4-6, 3-6. But Harvard isn’t too worried.

“The fall is all about seeing what we need to improve on and getting ready for the spring,” Friedel said. “As a whole, we can only take away positives from this weekend.”

Milunovich agreed, saying that the team is not yet looking ahead to what could be a second consecutive Ivy League title.

“Obviously, we’re excited, and we want to do it again,” she said, “[But] the goal is mostly to get a lot of individual match play in, to get experience, so that we peak in the spring.”