W. Tennis Goes 2-0 vs. Toughest Ivy Foes

The Harvard women's tennis made a decisive move towards a second consecutive Ivy League Championship this weekend, as it defeated Ancient Eight rivals Princeton and Penn in action at MIT, where the Crimson is playing its home matches this season.

On Friday afternoon, the No. 75-ranked Crimson (6-6, 4-0 Ivy) defeated the No. 69 Tigers (2-2 Ivy), 5-4, and on Saturday Harvard dominated the No. 49 Quakers (3-1 Ivy), 8-1.

The Princeton match was as exciting and highly contested as the score would indicate. After the singles round and the first two doubles matches were complete, the two teams found themselves knotted at four matches a piece, with just the No. 3 doubles match to left.

With the pressure on, the Crimson team of junior Roxanna Curto and freshman Sarah McGinty rose to the challenge, coming back from a 6-5 deficit to defeat the Tiger team of Olivia Streatfield and Kristi Watson, 8-6.

"We knew that Princeton would be tougher than last year," Curto said. "But we felt we were a better team, and came out on top in the end."

Despite Curto's and McGinty's heroics, the victory over the Tigers was a total team effort.

Leading the way for Harvard was junior Vedica Jain and captain Ivy Wang, who is coming back from a shoulder injury that has kept her sidelined for most of the past year, is a two-time unanimous All-Ivy League selection and last year's Ivy League Player of the Year.

Jain, playing No. 1, and Wang, playing No. 2, both overcame first-set losses to defeat their Princeton opponents in three.

Jain fell behind Jyostna Vasisht 6-2, before rallying to take the next two, 6-4 and 6-3.

Wang, meanwhile, suffered a 6-3 set-

back in the first, before defeating AmandaHastings-Philips 6-1, 7-5.

At the No. 3 position, freshman Andrea Magyeracruised to a straight-set victory over Gailor Large6-3, 6-2, giving Harvard a 3-0 advantage overPrinceton in the top half of the singles draw.

The Tigers, however, would not go down easily,as they swept victories in the No. 4 to 6positions to knot the match at 3-3 going intodoubles play. Sophomore Sanaz Ghazal, freshmanFleur Broughton and Curto-No. 4, 5 and 6,respectively--each dropped their singles match instraight sets.

The No. 1 Princeton team of Hastings-Phillipsand Large then defeated Jain and Magyera by thescore of 8-4 to give the Tigers a 4-3 advantage.

But at the No. 3 slot, the Harvard duo ofGhazal and Broughton defeated the Princeton teamof Priya Bhupathi and Kerry Patterson, 8-4,setting up Curto and McGinty's heroics.

The Harvard victory was an important one in thetight Ivy League Championship race and helpedbuild the Crimson's confidence as it headed intoSaturday's match against the Quakers, which hadearlier defeated Princeton by an equivalent 5-4score.

"We felt we were a better team than Princeton,But we knew that they were tough and that we wouldhave to go out a give it our best," Wang said. "Weshowed some real positive energy out there, and webuilt on that in the Penn match.'

Also helping in the Crimson cause against theQuakers was easily the largest crowd of the seasonto witness what promised to be the toughest leaguematch of the year.

Harvard, however, had other ideas, as itdominated Penn, winning all but one match on theafternoon.

Leading the way for the Crimson once again wasWang. After her stint as No. 2 against the Tigers,Wang was back at her usual No. 1 spot against theQuakers.

Wang faced off against one of the Ivy'sbest--Anastasia Pozdniakova--and despite beingplagued all day with pain in her serving shoulder,Wang fought out a straight set victory, 7-6, 6-4.

Meanwhile, No. 2 Jain and No. 3 Magyera alsoearned straight-set victory. Jain defeated Penn'sKaren Ridley 7-6, 6-2, while Magyera bested JuliaFeldman, 6-1, 7-6.

In the No. 4 and 5 spots, however, the Crimsonshowed its fighting spirit and a flair for thedramatic.

At No. 4, Ghazal found herself down to theQuakers' Brooke Herman 5-4 in the second set afterdropping the first. Ghazal fought back, however,recovering to win the second set before cruisingin the third, to take the match 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Broughton's comeback at No. 5 was even moreimpressive than Ghazal's. After falling in thefirst set 6-2, Broughton found herself down threematch points at 5-3 in the second. The freshmandidn't panic, however, as she rallied to win thegame and later the second set 7-5, before takingthe third 6-1.

Penn did manage to score a win at No. 6, withLuoani Bascora taking a straight-set decision overCurto, 6-2, 7-5.

With its five singles victories, the Crimsonhad already clinched the victory over the Quakers,but instead of coasting through the doublesportion of the meet, Harvard buckled down andcontinued its dominant play.

Jain and Magyera combined to defeat the Pennteam of Lenka Beranova and Feldman, 8-4, in theNo. 1 position.

At No. 2, Ghazal and Broughton continued theonslaught for the Crimson as they doubled up theQuakers' pair of Pozdniakova and Herman for anidentical 8-4 score.

Finally at the No. 3 slot, Curto once againteamed with McGinty to earn victory. The duo facedoff against Penn's Elana Gold and Ridley and won8-3 to give Harvard its final margin of victory.

"We were a bit surprised to win by such a bigmargin, but we were confident going in, and wefelt that we would win," Wang said. "This has beenthe best team effort that I've seen here. We arereally psyched about how we played, and we hope tobuild on that."

With the victories over Penn and Princeton thisweekend, Harvard has placed itself in the frontseat for the Ivy League Championship. TheTigers--who finished second to Harvard last seasonin the title race--and the Quakers looked topresent the biggest obstacles in the Crimson'spursuit of a repeat.

But despite the confidence gained from sweepingits most difficult weekend in its league schedule,the team said it cannot take its three remainingcontests lightly.

"This was definitely the top of the hill, butwe know that the other teams are not a roll-over,"Wang said. "We just have to go into each of thematches with the same intensity and play hard, andwe will come out on top.

back in the first, before defeating AmandaHastings-Philips 6-1, 7-5.

At the No. 3 position, freshman Andrea Magyeracruised to a straight-set victory over Gailor Large6-3, 6-2, giving Harvard a 3-0 advantage overPrinceton in the top half of the singles draw.

The Tigers, however, would not go down easily,as they swept victories in the No. 4 to 6positions to knot the match at 3-3 going intodoubles play. Sophomore Sanaz Ghazal, freshmanFleur Broughton and Curto-No. 4, 5 and 6,respectively--each dropped their singles match instraight sets.

The No. 1 Princeton team of Hastings-Phillipsand Large then defeated Jain and Magyera by thescore of 8-4 to give the Tigers a 4-3 advantage.

But at the No. 3 slot, the Harvard duo ofGhazal and Broughton defeated the Princeton teamof Priya Bhupathi and Kerry Patterson, 8-4,setting up Curto and McGinty's heroics.

The Harvard victory was an important one in thetight Ivy League Championship race and helpedbuild the Crimson's confidence as it headed intoSaturday's match against the Quakers, which hadearlier defeated Princeton by an equivalent 5-4score.

"We felt we were a better team than Princeton,But we knew that they were tough and that we wouldhave to go out a give it our best," Wang said. "Weshowed some real positive energy out there, and webuilt on that in the Penn match.'

Also helping in the Crimson cause against theQuakers was easily the largest crowd of the seasonto witness what promised to be the toughest leaguematch of the year.

Harvard, however, had other ideas, as itdominated Penn, winning all but one match on theafternoon.

Leading the way for the Crimson once again wasWang. After her stint as No. 2 against the Tigers,Wang was back at her usual No. 1 spot against theQuakers.

Wang faced off against one of the Ivy'sbest--Anastasia Pozdniakova--and despite beingplagued all day with pain in her serving shoulder,Wang fought out a straight set victory, 7-6, 6-4.

Meanwhile, No. 2 Jain and No. 3 Magyera alsoearned straight-set victory. Jain defeated Penn'sKaren Ridley 7-6, 6-2, while Magyera bested JuliaFeldman, 6-1, 7-6.

In the No. 4 and 5 spots, however, the Crimsonshowed its fighting spirit and a flair for thedramatic.

At No. 4, Ghazal found herself down to theQuakers' Brooke Herman 5-4 in the second set afterdropping the first. Ghazal fought back, however,recovering to win the second set before cruisingin the third, to take the match 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Broughton's comeback at No. 5 was even moreimpressive than Ghazal's. After falling in thefirst set 6-2, Broughton found herself down threematch points at 5-3 in the second. The freshmandidn't panic, however, as she rallied to win thegame and later the second set 7-5, before takingthe third 6-1.

Penn did manage to score a win at No. 6, withLuoani Bascora taking a straight-set decision overCurto, 6-2, 7-5.

With its five singles victories, the Crimsonhad already clinched the victory over the Quakers,but instead of coasting through the doublesportion of the meet, Harvard buckled down andcontinued its dominant play.

Jain and Magyera combined to defeat the Pennteam of Lenka Beranova and Feldman, 8-4, in theNo. 1 position.

At No. 2, Ghazal and Broughton continued theonslaught for the Crimson as they doubled up theQuakers' pair of Pozdniakova and Herman for anidentical 8-4 score.

Finally at the No. 3 slot, Curto once againteamed with McGinty to earn victory. The duo facedoff against Penn's Elana Gold and Ridley and won8-3 to give Harvard its final margin of victory.

"We were a bit surprised to win by such a bigmargin, but we were confident going in, and wefelt that we would win," Wang said. "This has beenthe best team effort that I've seen here. We arereally psyched about how we played, and we hope tobuild on that."

With the victories over Penn and Princeton thisweekend, Harvard has placed itself in the frontseat for the Ivy League Championship. TheTigers--who finished second to Harvard last seasonin the title race--and the Quakers looked topresent the biggest obstacles in the Crimson'spursuit of a repeat.

But despite the confidence gained from sweepingits most difficult weekend in its league schedule,the team said it cannot take its three remainingcontests lightly.

"This was definitely the top of the hill, butwe know that the other teams are not a roll-over,"Wang said. "We just have to go into each of thematches with the same intensity and play hard, andwe will come out on top.