Shorthanded W. Tennis Defends ECAC Crown

The Harvard women’s tennis team looks to defend its title this weekend at the ECAC Invitational Tennis Championship hosted by the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

The Crimson enters the tournament ranked first, reflecting its achievements at last year’s competition.

“I think there’s always pressure when you’re defending champion of anything, but it’s good pressure,” sophomore Alexis Martire said. “I think we need to play as well, maybe better than last year, because the teams have gotten better.”

Harvard will be competing against 15 other schools, including Ivy rivals Princeton and Yale, who round out the top three seeds.

Harvard thoroughly dominated its opponents last year, when three of its four rounds ended in shutouts—over Cornell, Princeton and George Washington.

The team dropped only one match—to Yale—on its march to victory.

Last year’s effort was spearheaded by sophomore Courtney Bergman, who led the team to victory by winning all her first division matches.

Bergman is currently competing at the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships, where she advanced to the top 16 yesterday with a tough three-set victory over Missouri junior Urska Juric in the first round.

Also competing at the tournament, freshman Eva Wang won her two consolation matches yesterday.

The pair will rejoin the team in New York as circumstances permit.

The Crimson has turned in strong performances in early season competition, overcoming the departure of numerous key members and a disappointing second-place Ivy League finish last year.

Bergman and doubles partner sophomore Susanna Lingman captured the Cissy Leary Invitational and freshman Alli Pillinger reached the finals of the Princeton Invitational last month.

Despite success at ECACs last year and strong performances in the beginning of this season, the Crimson enters the tournament with a depleted roster.

“Overall, [the season] has been pretty good,” captain Sanja Bajin said. “Our team has shown great depth so far.”

With Bergman and Wang still in action in California and their status in doubt for this weekend, that depth will certainly be tested.

Additionally, the Crimson will be without Pillinger, who pulled a muscle during a tournament earlier this year and is sitting out to avoid further aggravation.

“We’ll miss Alli,” Martire said. “She’s a great asset and a great player, but I think we have a lot of good players and we’ll be fine.”

Further worsening the situation for Harvard, freshman Melissa Anderson will be forced to sit out the tournament with tendinitis in her elbow.

Harvard’s top ranking should help by providing a slightly easier draw, but the team entering tomorrow’s competition is not the same as the one that earned its seed.

“We are defending champions,” Bajin said. “But we don’t have our full lineup, so we don’t have high expectations.”

With all the injuries, the team’s fate this weekend will likely rely upon the performance of Harvard’s freshmen.

“Our team’s real young but the freshmen have been great so far,” Bajin said. “I think there’s going to be some younger kids who don’t usually get the chance to play who will need to step up.”