Netwomen Nab Sixth-Straight Ivy Title

The dynasty continues.

The nation's 24th-ranked Harvard women's tennis team captured its sixth straight Ivy League championship with a convincing 6-3 victory over the Tigers Wednesday in Princeton.

The Crimson (20-7 overall, 7-0 Ivies) also increased its current winning streak to 10 matches in 1988.

The win, which gave second-year Coach Ed Krass a second Ancient Eight championship, earned the Crimson its fifth-straight bid to the NCAA Championships, which will begin Wednesday at UCLA. Harvard--seeded 20th in the tournament--will play Trinity University, the 13th seed.

Expansion

The NCAA has increased the field to 20 this year, and teams seeded from 13-20 will play each other in first round matches.

Harvard has opened with Stanford or Florida--the top ranked teams in the country--for each of the last five years.

"We won the Ivy title with team unity and team depth," Krass said. "The team worked hard all year and it's paid off. We have a lot of team spirit. It was another good win on the road for us."

Taming the Tigers

In the number-two doubles match with Princeton, Harvard's Amy deLone and Christina Dragomirescu raced to a 6-1,6-4 victory over Aditi Viswanathan and Susie Werthheimer.

At number-two doubles, Harvard Captain Cyndy Austrian and Kathy Mulvehal captured the first set, 6-4, over Lisa Nyman and Matha Leggat. The Crimson duo led the second set, 6-5, but Nyman and Leggat rallied to win the set in a tiebreaker.

In the third and final set, Austrian and Mulvehal cruised, capturing a 6-1 triumph.

"They were a little tougher than we'd imagined," Mulvehal said. Their crowd really got into the match. They were screaming every time Princeton scored a point. That really fired us up in our doubles matches.

At number-one doubles, Harvard Co-Captain Kristin Bland and Jamie Henikoff, the nation's 30th-ranked pair dropped the first set, 6-3, to Diana Gardner and Lauren Fortgang, but rallied to take the second set convincingly, 6-1.

But in third and final set, the Crimson duo dropped a tough 6-4 decision.

So after Harvard took a 2-1 lead going into singles, the squad needed to win only three of the six matches to clinch the title.

Henikoff, playing at number-two singles, lost the first set to Fortgang, 6-1, and had to retire because of back soreness.

Mulvehal, who has been solid at number-six singles all year, whipped Viswanathan, 6-0, 6-2, to give the Crimson a 3-2 advantage.

There's Only One Cyn

At number-four singles, Austrian, playing in her last regular-season match for the Crimson, left the way she started--with a win.

The senior cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Wertheimer, while Jack Farrell wasted little time in destroying Nyman, 6-1, 6-1, sealing the Ivy title for the Crimson.

In the number-one singles match, Bland dropped a tough three-set decision to Gardner, the nation's 34th-ranked player. The Harvard senior dropped the first-set, 6-2, rallied to take the second, 6-2, but fell in the finale, 6-3.

Freshman deLone dropped the first set, 6-3, to Leggat, but rallied to capture the final two sets by the same margin, 6-3, 6-3. Delone's victory closed out a fine regular-season for the Crimson.

We Love LA

The Crimson will play Trinity in the first round of the NCAA tournament Wednesday afternoon.

"It should be a really exciting match," Krass said. "It's a good opportunity for us. We've usually had to play Stanford or Florida in the first round."

The Crimson players are also excited about their trip west. Harvard posted a 3-4 mark when it traveled to California over spring break.

"We're excited about playing Trinity," Dragomirescu said. "We definitely have a better chance this year. We've improved a lot since our spring trip."

THE NOTEBOOK: The victory extended Harvard's Ivy League winning streak to 34...Since 1983, the Crimson has posted an unequalled 38-1 record...This is Harvard's fifth-straight unbeaten Ivy season...The netwomen captured 63 individual Ivy matches, while dropping only nine.