No. 34 W. Tennis Tackles Ohio St. in First Round

Forgive the No. 34 Harvard women’s tennis team if today’s six starters don’t quite recognize each other. After all, they’ve only played together as a unit once before.

“We’re healthy, finally,” said Crimson coach Gordon Graham. “We’ve only played one match with our full lineup and it looks like we’re going into this tournament with our full lineup.”

Sure, Harvard is nicked up. Sophomore Eva Wang came down with the flu yesterday after a mild quadriceps sprain earlier in the week, and nearly everyone is dealing with the lingering effects of injuries suffered along the way.

But, at long last, the squad projected to make a dent against national competition after its Sweet 16 appearance one year ago has finally arrived.

The signs have been there all season long, as reflected in the All-Ivy teams released on Wednesday.

Junior co-captain Courtney Bergman headed the list of honorees, unanimously chosen as Ivy Player of the Year with first-team singles and doubles nods to match. Classmate and fellow co-captain Susanna Lingman also came away with a unanimous spot on the first-team doubles squad and a place on the singles first team.

Wang was unanimously named to the first-team singles squad while joining junior doubles partner Alexis Martire on the second team to round out the awards.

The Crimson first-teamers were undefeated in singles play for the year despite constant reshuffling due to injuries.

“I think you usually have to be No. 1 or 2 in the lineup to get [a first-team nod],” said Wang, Harvard’s typical No. 3. “But even though it’s not my regular spot I played that a couple of times and won.”

In addition to the Crimson’s four All-Ivy selections, freshman Preethi Mukundan and sophomore Melissa Anderson will take the court for Harvard at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, while teaming for No. 3 doubles.

“I think we’re going to match up well in all the right places,” Graham said.

But that depth and Harvard’s impressive run to the Ivy title guarantee nothing against Ohio State, which ran off an impressive streak of its own to qualify for postseason play.

Coming out of the Big 10, the Buckeyes rattled off five straight wins, including three in the conference tournament—two over ranked opponents—before falling to No. 9 Northwestern in the finals.

“I expect a team that plays really well, that competes well,” Graham said. “They made a really good run at the end of their season. In the Big 10 conference tournament they made a good run. They beat Illinois, who had beaten us early in the year. They’re riding a good streak.”

Central to that late-season success—Ohio State finished the year at 13-13, 8-6 in the Big 10—was the Buckeyes ability to jump on opponents early, particularly in doubles play where the squad thrived.

And don’t let that record fool you. Coming out of the Big 10—“the toughest conference in the country, even tougher than the Pac 10” according to Graham—it’s nothing to sneeze at.

“They’re good front-runners,” Graham said. “We want to get up on them early.”

Given his squad’s level of experience in the NCAAs, Graham won’t need to tell his team twice.

Aiding in that effort should be a sold-out crowd, cementing a home-court advantage virtually unparalleled among Harvard teams.

Not even Graham can definitively remember the squad’s last home loss—his best guess is a 4-3 decision to Duke a couple of years back—but most of those came in front of relatively empty bleachers.

“Usually for our home matches it’s just the court that’s the determining factor,” Graham said. “But this time we’ll have the crowd and the court.”

Matches begin today at 11 a.m. at the Beren Tennis Center.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.