W. Tennis Dominates Cowgirls

Oklahoma State traveled over 2000 miles to the Murr Center courts—but couldn’t muster a point.

The No. 24 Harvard women’s tennis team blanked the No. 41 Cowgirls, 7-0, Wednesday afternoon. The Crimson moves to 10-3 on the year and 8-2 in the spring.

Despite missing top player Courtney Bergman in singles, the Crimson posted one of its most dominant performances of the year with four of its six singles players winning in straight sets. It was Harvard’s third shutout of the season and its second since mid-February.

Sophomore sensation Susannah Lingman filled in for Bergman at the top seed and defeated her opponent in three hard-fought sets. But Bergman—who is battling a shin injury—stepped up and teamed with Lingman in the top doubles match to soundly defeated OSU’s top tandem. Harvard’s No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams also both won in decisive fashion.

“We all fought really hard and showed a lot of heart and will to win,” junior Alexis Martire said. “We have a lot of depth on our team, and this proves that yet again.”

Because of Bergman’s absence from the singles lineup, Harvard coach Gordon Graham had to bump each of his players up a spot. This move allowed freshman Ali Pillinger to slip into the sixth seed where she beat her opponent in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

In addition to Pillinger’s second victory of the year the Crimson got wins from Martire (No. 2), senior Sanja Bajin (No. 3) and freshman Melissa Anderson (No. 5) in straight-set decisions.

Graham said he was pleased with his team’s “decisive win.”

“We had a lot of heart and a lot of fight out there,” said Graham, whose squad won its second consecutive match after dropping a 4-3 heart-breaker earlier this month to No. 8 North Carolina. “Our players, despite all moving up a spot, found a way to win. It was extremely encouraging how we approached and attacked this challenge while facing an excellent opponent.”

The Crimson now next heads out west, where it faces Fresno State on March 24. Harvard then plays at California on March 26 and at Pepperdine on March 29 to complete its spring break swing through the west coast.

—Staff writer Sean W. Coughlin can be reached at coughl@fas.harvard.edu.