No. 26 Miami Outlasts W. Tennis, 6-3

On Saturday afternoon at the Murr Center, the Harvard women's tennis team played host to No. 26 Miami.

And despite some gutsy, determined play, the Crimson (2-7, 1-1 Ivy) was unable to handle the Hurricanes in the singles portion of the meet, as Miami won five of six singles matches, clinching the victory before the doubles round began.

The Crimson fell to the Hurricanes by a final margin of 6-3.

But Miami's victory was not nearly as lopsided as the scoreboard would have you believe. Most of the matches were very highly contested.

"We really weren't that far away from them," said sophomore Roxanna Curto. "We played them very close, we just weren't able to pull out any of the matches."

Curto, playing in the No. 6 position, claimed the only victory for Harvard in the singles competition. She faced off against senior Sophie Cortina in high tension, three-set contest. MIAMI MIAMI

Curto took the first set, 7-5. But plagued bysome untimely unforced errors, she dropped thesecond to Cortina, 6-3. In the final set, however,Curto was able to pull her game together, usingsuperior pace on her groundstrokes and serve toclose out the match, 6-4.

"In the first two sets I was making a lot ofmistakes and not doing my best, but in the third Ifelt like I was finally playing well," Curto said."This was an important match for me, because Ifigured out a way to win despite making a lot oferrors."

Unfortunately for Harvard, this was the onlysingles match that it would pull out.

At the No. 1 position, junior Vedica Jain hungtough with hard-hitting sophomore LioudmilaSkavronskaia. After dropping the first set 6-1,Jain managed to regroup, taking the second, 7-5,to even the match. But Skavronskaia's incrediblepower proved to be too much in the end, as Jainfinally fell in the third set, 6-1.

Fleur Broughton, playing in the No. 4 slot forHarvard, also took her opponent to the limit insingles competition. Facing sophomore AlannaBroderick, Broughton took the first set in atiebreaker. Broderick, however, quickly recovered,winning the final two sets, and the match, 6-2,6-1.

In the No. 2 position, Crimson sophomore SanazGhazal took on sophomore Katia Bogomolova.Although Ghazal battled throughout, Bogomolova wasable to handle her, winning the match in straightsets, 6-3, 6-3.

Harvard freshman Andrea Magyera played a veryclose match with freshman Marcy Hora at the No. 3slot, but also fell in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5.

At No.5, freshman Jenny Timoney was unable toget anything going for Harvard in her matchagainst junior Evqa Jimenez, as she fell 6-0, 6-0.

With the match already in hand, Miamivoluntarily defaulted in the No. 3 doubles match,but still played for the No. 1 and No. 2positions.

Despite playing only for pride at this point,Harvard remained focused and poised, playing itsbest tennis of the afternoon in the doubles round.

The main story was the surprising upset by theteam of Ghazal and Broughton over Skavronskaia andBroderick at the No. 1 position. The duo ofSkavronskaia and Broderick are ranked No. 35 inthe country, and figured to win without muchtrouble.

Ghazal and Broughton, however, fought thestrong Miami team for every point, keeping thematch even throughout. And when the Hurricanesforced a tiebreaker at 8-8, the Crimson duo didnot panic. Instead, playing with confidence andgreat poise they withstood Miami's superior powerto take the tiebreaker, 7-3 and the match, 9-8.

At No. 2 doubles, Jain and Magyera also gavethe Hurricanes a run for their money. Facing theteam of Bogomolova and Jimenez, Jain and Magyerajumped out to a 5-2 lead. Miami stormed back,however, winning six of the next seven games tosqueeze out an 8-6 victory.

Despite losing its seventh meet in nine tries,the Crimson remains confident.

Its poor record is more an indication of thehigh caliber of team that Harvard has beenplaying, than of the team's ability. Five of theNo. 66 Crimson's losses have come to teams rankedin the top 25.

With Ivy League matches still remaining andmost of the tougher meets out of the way, Harvardis looking forward to increased success and moreteam victories.

"We've been playing some really good teams,with very high rankings," Curto said. "Andalthough the overall team scores have not beengreat, we've played in some really close matches.So we are pretty confident as we move on to playour easier opponents, as well as our Ivy Leaguematches."CrimsonPaul S. GutmanSLAMMIN':Sophomore SANAZ GHAZALteamed with Fleur Broughton to win at No. 1doubles against the Hurricanes' LiudmilaSkavronskaia and Alanna Broderick on Saturday, butMiami won the meet.

Curto took the first set, 7-5. But plagued bysome untimely unforced errors, she dropped thesecond to Cortina, 6-3. In the final set, however,Curto was able to pull her game together, usingsuperior pace on her groundstrokes and serve toclose out the match, 6-4.

"In the first two sets I was making a lot ofmistakes and not doing my best, but in the third Ifelt like I was finally playing well," Curto said."This was an important match for me, because Ifigured out a way to win despite making a lot oferrors."

Unfortunately for Harvard, this was the onlysingles match that it would pull out.

At the No. 1 position, junior Vedica Jain hungtough with hard-hitting sophomore LioudmilaSkavronskaia. After dropping the first set 6-1,Jain managed to regroup, taking the second, 7-5,to even the match. But Skavronskaia's incrediblepower proved to be too much in the end, as Jainfinally fell in the third set, 6-1.

Fleur Broughton, playing in the No. 4 slot forHarvard, also took her opponent to the limit insingles competition. Facing sophomore AlannaBroderick, Broughton took the first set in atiebreaker. Broderick, however, quickly recovered,winning the final two sets, and the match, 6-2,6-1.

In the No. 2 position, Crimson sophomore SanazGhazal took on sophomore Katia Bogomolova.Although Ghazal battled throughout, Bogomolova wasable to handle her, winning the match in straightsets, 6-3, 6-3.

Harvard freshman Andrea Magyera played a veryclose match with freshman Marcy Hora at the No. 3slot, but also fell in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5.

At No.5, freshman Jenny Timoney was unable toget anything going for Harvard in her matchagainst junior Evqa Jimenez, as she fell 6-0, 6-0.

With the match already in hand, Miamivoluntarily defaulted in the No. 3 doubles match,but still played for the No. 1 and No. 2positions.

Despite playing only for pride at this point,Harvard remained focused and poised, playing itsbest tennis of the afternoon in the doubles round.

The main story was the surprising upset by theteam of Ghazal and Broughton over Skavronskaia andBroderick at the No. 1 position. The duo ofSkavronskaia and Broderick are ranked No. 35 inthe country, and figured to win without muchtrouble.

Ghazal and Broughton, however, fought thestrong Miami team for every point, keeping thematch even throughout. And when the Hurricanesforced a tiebreaker at 8-8, the Crimson duo didnot panic. Instead, playing with confidence andgreat poise they withstood Miami's superior powerto take the tiebreaker, 7-3 and the match, 9-8.

At No. 2 doubles, Jain and Magyera also gavethe Hurricanes a run for their money. Facing theteam of Bogomolova and Jimenez, Jain and Magyerajumped out to a 5-2 lead. Miami stormed back,however, winning six of the next seven games tosqueeze out an 8-6 victory.

Despite losing its seventh meet in nine tries,the Crimson remains confident.

Its poor record is more an indication of thehigh caliber of team that Harvard has beenplaying, than of the team's ability. Five of theNo. 66 Crimson's losses have come to teams rankedin the top 25.

With Ivy League matches still remaining andmost of the tougher meets out of the way, Harvardis looking forward to increased success and moreteam victories.

"We've been playing some really good teams,with very high rankings," Curto said. "Andalthough the overall team scores have not beengreat, we've played in some really close matches.So we are pretty confident as we move on to playour easier opponents, as well as our Ivy Leaguematches."CrimsonPaul S. GutmanSLAMMIN':Sophomore SANAZ GHAZALteamed with Fleur Broughton to win at No. 1doubles against the Hurricanes' LiudmilaSkavronskaia and Alanna Broderick on Saturday, butMiami won the meet.