Netwomen Place Last In ITCA Tournament

It got down and dirty in Princeton, N.J. on Saturday.

The Harvard women's tennis team lost to Virginia, 6-3, in the consolation draw of the ITCA Region One Team Championships in a match marred by shoddy officiating and numerous disputes. Several players from both teams requested umpires to supervise their matches after a slew of controversial line calls.

The Crimson, the tournament's two-time defending champion, was not seeded and dropped an 8-1 decision top-seeded William and Mary on Friday. Harvard finished last in the eight-team tournament.

Sophomore Kim Cooper prevailed over UVA's Carolyn Scherman at the number-three singles spot, 6-3, 7-5. In one of her strongest matches of the season, Cooper controlled the court with a strong attacking game.

At the fifth-singles position, freshman Rachel Pollack defeated Becky Kopack, 6-3, 6-3. The victory was a reverse of the outcome of a match between these two just four weeks ago when Kopack had defeated Pollack, 6-3, 6-4, at the Syracuse Invitational.

The third victory for the Crimson came in first doubles, with Cooper and junior Amy deLone combining to trounce Karen Gallego and Scherman, 6-0, 6-3.

Delone blanked Gallego in the first set but came up short, 0-6, 6-4, 6-2, at number-one singles.

Gallego made three straight bad line calls, leading the disbelieving spectators to call for an umpire.

At the number-two spot, the Cavaliers' Riva Lapidus overcame an ailing Jen Minkus, 6-3, 6-0, while freshman Ericka Elmuts fell to Michelle McKeen, 6-4, 6-3, at fifth singles.

Freshman Melinda Wang extended Kristen Kepler to three sets, but lost, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, at sixth singles. She effectively took the net away from Kepler, an aggressive serve-and-volleyer, with strong passing shots in the second set, but unforced errors off her shaky forehand cost her the third.

Elmuts and Minkus dropped their match at the number-two doubles spot, 7-5, 6-4, to Lapidus and McKeen, while Pollack and Captain Niki Rival lost to Kepler and Kopack, 6-2, 6-1.