Crimson Rebounds, Wins Twice

Coming off a 5-0 loss to No. 1 Stanford in the semifinals of the USTA/ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championship, the Harvard women’s tennis team should have been deflated, demoralized, and downtrodden. However, showing resilience and determination, the Crimson (5-1) unleashed a stellar performance this weekend to overcome both South Alabama, 5-2, and Sacramento State, 4-3.

HARVARD 5, SOUTH ALABAMA 2

Against No. 28 South Alabama on Saturday, Harvard convincingly won all three doubles matches to secure the crucial first point. Preethi Mukundan and Cindy Chu finished first, defeating Dijana Stanic and Jelena Krivacevic, 8-6, in the No. 3 match. The nation’s No. 6-ranked team of Elsa O’Riain and Melissa Anderson then defeated Sylvanie Spangenberg and Maria Zivicova, 8-6, in the No. 1 slot. Finally, after trailing 4-1, the team of Eva Wang and Stephanie Schnitter rallied to win seven straight games and give the Crimson the sweep in the doubles matches.

O’Riain suffered a minor elbow injury during doubles, causing a last-minute change in the singles roster.

However, Harvard seemed unaffected by the loss.

“We had some adversity...We had to make a change in the singles line-up, and I’m proud of the way they mentally handled that,” coach Gordon Graham said.

Schnitter defeated Klara Jarova, 6-1, 6-1, in the No. 5 match, commencing singles play and giving a point to Harvard. South Alabama (3-1) took the second match, as Spangenberg topped Chu, 6-2, 6-3. Harvard and the Jaguars traded the next two matches as Wang defeated Krivacevic, 6-2, 6-1, followed by Stanic, who then bested Mukundan, 7-5, 6-2, in No. 4 singles. With the point total standing at 3-2 in favor of the Crimson, freshman Beier Ko sealed the win with a strong showing against Adrianna Salarova. After trailing 5-3 in the first set, Ko rallied to win in the tiebreaker followed by a stand-out performance in the second set to win, 7-6, 6-1. Anderson also rallied against Maria Zivicova, 6-4, 7-6, 1-0 (7), to add another singles win, boosting the Crimson’s final score to 5-2.

HARVARD 4, SACRAMENTO STATE 3

In the match against No. 37 Sacramento State (1-2) yesterday, Harvard again swept all three doubles matches. Wang and Schnitter quickly defeated Luba Schifris and Karina Jarlkaganova, 8-1.

O’Riain, returning from her injury, and Anderson then secured the doubles point with a win over Margarita Karnaukhova and Anastassia Lyssenko, 9-8 (2).

The team of Mukundan and Chu then topped Cecilia Helland and Svetlana Pimenova, 8-6.

In singles, Anderson quickly added to Harvard’s lead with an easy win over Anastassia Lyssenko, 6-0, 6-1. Luba Schifris of the Hornets then defeated O’Riain, 6-1, 6-1 to bring the point total to 2-1 in favor of Harvard. Schnitter increased the lead to 3-1 with a 6-2, 6-2, victory against Irina Taranenko, and Ko wrapped up the win for the Crimson for the second match in a row, 6-2, 6-3, over Karina Jarlkaganova. Sacramento State claimed the final matches as Cecilia Helland overcame Mukundan 7-5, 2-6, 1-0(7), and Margarita Karnaukhova bested Eva Wang 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (5).

“We had good doubles and good depth and good heart,” Graham said. “We just pulled together and just battled.”

With this mentality, Harvard topped off the weekend with two hard-earned victories and looks towards the match at Northwestern on Feb. 17.