Women's Tennis Wraps Up Non-Conference Play with Back-to-Back Victories

The No. 71 Crimson is heating up just in time for Ivy League action after it closed out non-conference play with two home wins over the weekend with a close 4-3 victory over the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a dominant 7-0 performance over Hofstra University. Harvard has now won three straight matches and remains a perfect 5-0 at home.

“I’m really pleased with how our team performed this past weekend,” head coach Traci Green said. “We really showed a ton of grit, resilience, and I like the way we played together the entire time. I feel like we’re on an upward trajectory and it’s right in time for Ivy Season.”

After finishing 2-2 on their road trip to Orlando, Fla. over spring break, the Crimson (9-7, 0-0 Ivy League) returned home to host the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (10-4, 3-0 Atlantic 10) on Saturday, March 26 and Hofstra University (2-7, 0-2 CAA) on Sunday, March 27.

“Orlando was a really pivotal trip for our team,” junior Sophia Ho said. “It was really crucial for us to learn how to work together and learn what kind of mindsets our team performs best under. It's really good that we have that [experience] under our belt now because we feel a lot more united, and we all feel like we’re working towards a common goal going into Ivies.”

Harvard had a slow start in its match against the Minutewomen on Saturday as UMass secured the first point of the match in doubles play. While the Crimson’s top-seeded doubles team of first-years Maxi Duncan and Holly Fischer had a strong 6-3 victory, the third-seeded pair of senior Rachel Lim and junior Kayla Leschly fell 2-6 to the Minutewomen. The second-seeded team of first-year Angel You and sophomore Iveta Daujotaite lost in a close 7-6 (4) tiebreaker as the visitors gained a one-point advantage in the best-of-seven point tiebreak.

Heading into singles play with the disadvantage, Harvard needed a strong performance to secure the win. It did so by winning four of the six matches at the second, third, fifth, and sixth spots. You led 2-0 in the fifth-seed contest before her UMass counterpart retired, giving Harvard its first point of the match. Sophomore Sany Gawande earned a solid 6-1, 6-1 victory at the number six spot while Duncan, the number two seed, won in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, and Fischer secured the win for the Crimson at the three spot in three tough sets, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3.

“We’ve been in that position before, so I had complete confidence in our players that they would respond correctly, dig in, and bounce back,” Green said. “Top to bottom, everyone fought hard, and it just so happened to come down to the very last match, and Holly Fischer, one of our first-years, was able to pull it out for us.”

Harvard looked sharp on Sunday in its 7-0 victory against Hofstra, not dropping a single set the entire match. This was just the second time this season that the Crimson won each match in straight sets.

“Going into Sunday, our mindset was to compete, and they did just that,” Green said. “Again, from top to bottom, our girls really dominated the other team. We really didn’t give them a chance. That was our goal and we wanted to end on a high note heading into Ivies.”

The doubles team of Duncan and Fischer continued their strong weekend performance with a solid 6-3 win at the top spot. Lim and first-year Rachel Arbitman secured a 6-2 victory at the two-seed. You and Daujotaite recovered from their heartbreak loss on Saturday with a decisive 6-2 victory at the third-seeded doubles slot.

On the singles side, Ho, senior Rachel Eason, junior Mihaela Marculescu, Lim, Gawande, and Daujotaite all secured victories in straight sets over Hofstra.

“None of us took the match too lightly,” Ho said. “We all wanted to give everything we had and really show, at our last match before the Ivies, we’re a team to be afraid of and a team that the other Ivies look out for. I think we did a good job of sending that message.”

The back-to-back weekend wins mark a three-game win streak for Harvard. Its momentum is timely as it begins conference play next week. Even with a hot streak, the Crimson is focused on taking the rest of its season one match at a time.

“We are going into the Dartmouth match with a fighting mindset in the sense that it’s going to be a tough fight; every game that we play from now on is going to be an Ivy League game, so they’re all going to be close games, so we need to be ready for anything,” Ho said.

As the team prepares for their first conference match-up, Coach Green is confident in her team’s ability to show up strongly for the rest of the season.

“​​I have confidence in everyone on our team to step up,” Coach Green said. “This is the time we play our best tennis at Harvard women’s tennis and we’re ready to do that.”

The Crimson will look to extend its win streak this weekend as it kicks off Ivy League play against Dartmouth (6-7, 0-0 Ivy League) Saturday, April 2 in Hanover, N.H.