Harvard Upset By Gamecocks

Sometimes, Mr. Mo’s on your side. If you feed him, he’ll grow. But he’s very impatient. If you don’t play with him, he might get up and walk away.

More than two weeks removed from a confidence-building win against the No. 20 Miami Hurricanes on Feb. 26th the No. 15 Harvard women’s tennis team was unable to carry any momentum into its first of two matches in Columbia, S.C. this weekend.

With its early season three-match win streak on the line, the Crimson (5-5) could not overcome an early sweep in the doubles matches en route to a 5-2 upset at the hands of host No. 46 South Carolina at the Maxcy Gregg Tennis Facility.

South Carolina, which had completed seven matches—with a 5-2 mark—during Harvard’s season-long 15-day layoff, came out firing despite its packed schedule and improved to 9-4 on the year, 1-4 against teams ranked in the top-25.

The match was the Crimson’s first outdoor encounter of the year. According to sophomore Eva Wang, the “outside factor” had an impact on the team’s performance. “After playing indoors for a few months, the new conditions [took some] getting used to.”

Junior co-captain Courtney Bergman, who played in just her fourth match of the season due to injury, said that the team did not seem to have the same excitement that was visible after the victory over the Hurricanes. “We should have gotten more pumped [for the USC match],” Bergman said. “Something was missing. I’m not sure what it was.”

At the No. 2 doubles spot, USC’s Christyn Lucas and Fallon Koon defeated junior Ashley Hyotte and Wang, 8-4. Crimson co-captains Susanna Lingman and Bergman, the No. 16 tandem in the nation, were upset by the same score by Laura Ganzer and Danielle Wiggins, who locked up the doubles point for USC. Ayako Suzuki and Miranda Gutierrez finished off the sweep for the Gamecocks with an 8-6 triumph over sophomore Melissa Anderson and freshman Preethi Mukundan.

USC became the third team to sweep the Crimson in the doubles matches this year and the first to do so without a nationally-ranked doubles team.

The Gamecocks carried their momentum into singles play, emerging with the win after three straight-set victories in the first three completed matches. Magda Wojdylo defeated Anderson at the No. 6 singles spot 6-4, 6-2. Ganzer came out on top of Wang 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 3 spot, while Gutierrez clinched the win for USC by defeating freshman Cindy Chu 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4.

The Gamecocks picked up their final point courtesy of Koon, who overcame Mukundan in a second-set tiebreak at No. 5 singles for yet another straight-set win, 6-2, 7-6(4).

Harvard’s co-captains bounced back nicely from their defeat in the doubles with three-set wins at the top two singles spots. No. 35 Courtney Bergman took the third set via the tiebreak from sophomore Danielle Wiggins, who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 54 this past week. The final at the top spot was 6-2, 3-6, 1-0(4).

At No. 2 singles, Lingman defeated Lucas 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

HARVARD 5, SOUTH ALABAMA 2

Yesterday afternoon, the Crimson (6-5) bumped its record back over the .500 mark with a 5-2 victory over the No. 41 University of South Alabama Jaguars.

The loss dropped the Jaguars—who opened the season as the No. 18 team in the country—to 0-6 against ranked competition and 6-6 overall.

A day after being swept in the doubles, Harvard sent the same three duos out, hoping for a different result. All three teams responded.

In the No. 2 spot, Hyotte and Wang defeated Klara Jarova and Marlieke Jager, 8-3.

At No. 1, Bergman and Lingman rebounded with an 8-4 win over Catherine Perkins and Katarina Palenikova, clinching the doubles point for the Crimson.

Mukundan and Anderson sealed the sweep with an 8-6 victory over Dominika Nemcovicova and Ana Rupic.

According to Bergman, getting the first point helped set the tone for the remainder of the match. “Even though it’s only one point,” she said, “it’s a pretty big point [because] it sets your energy, your momentum [and] your confidence [for the singles].”

The Crimson’s success in the doubles carried over to the singles, much like it had for USC the day before. The lead was quickly pushed to 3-0 when Wang won easily at No. 3, defeating Palenikova 6-0, 6-2, and Bergman routed Perkins at the top spot 6-1, 6-2.

USA got on the board when Nemcovicova defeated Cindy Chu 6-3, 6-4 at No. 4 singles. The Jaguars, however, were unable to overcome the early deficit.

Lingman scored Harvard’s fourth point with her second victory of the weekend. She finished off Jager 7-5, 6-1 at the second spot. Mukundun beat Jarova 6-1, 7-5 to finish the scoring for the Crimson, while Anderson dropped the day’s only three-set match to Rupic 4-6, 6-4, 3-2 (2).

The Crimson will look to get Mr. Mo back next Saturday when the squad hosts the University of San Francisco at 10 a.m.

—Staff writer Gregory B. Michnikov can be reached at michnik@fas.harvard.edu.