Crimson Picks Up First Win Of Season

The opening moments of doubles play against UMass demonstrated the Harvard women’s tennis team’s determination to win its first match of the season.

Faced with game point in the top doubles position, sophomore Beier Ko dived to the court to let the ball sail by, only inches out. Moments later, Ko’s partner, freshman Lena Litvak, nearly decapitated her Minutewoman opponent when given an easy volley.

Keyed on by this energy, Harvard (1-7) defeated UMass (7-5) 7-0 Tuesday in the Murr Center to break a seven match losing streak, with six of those losses coming against nationally ranked teams.

“I was just so proud of them today. They’ve been battling hard all spring,” head coach Gordon Graham said. “It’s just great to get a win. Everyone feels better. It’s something we can build on.”

The Crimson quickly captured the doubles point. Ko and Litvak won an easy 8-4 victory that had Litvak skipping around the court in joy. At the second doubles spot, senior captain Preethi Mukundan and freshman Elizabeth Brook won 8-3.

Pumped up by the doubles result, Harvard players quickly seized leads in all six singles matches.

Brook, senior Julia Forgie, and junior Vilsa Curto, who is also a Crimson editor, all won their first singles matches in team play. Brook simply outplayed Dasa Stanimirovich, romping to a 6-0, 6-0 victory, while Curto downed UMass’ Laura Murillo 6-2, 6-4.

Forgie took the first set 6-4, but seemed destined for a third set when trailing 5-3 in the second to Maude Lecluyse. Undeterred, Forgie fought through a bevy of long deuce games to win the second set 7-5 on a Lecluyse double fault.

“[Lizzie’s] been playing very well and she’s had a lot of close matches, and it was only a matter of time before she blasted someone off the court,” Mukundan said. “Julia and Vilsa are both very hard workers and it was great to see that pay off.”

At first singles, No. 107 Litvak tore through opponent Michele Spiess, winning 6-2, 6-0, putting Spiess away with a swinging forehand volley on match point.

At the second doubles position, No. 48 Ko matched up with Masha Pozar. Neither sickness nor Pozar’s power disrupted Ko, who took advantage of Pozar’s unforced errors in a 6-2, 6-3 win.

Mukundan initially seemed to have some trouble with opponent Ellen de Jong, falling 2-1 in the first. Mukundan rallied, increasingly mixing up the pace of her groundstrokes. Forced to hit backhands bouncing high with topspin, de Jong fell to Mukundan 6-2, 6-2.

All five of the Minutewoman’s losses so far this season have come to Ivy League teams, of which only Harvard managed to sweep UMass.

“Maybe we can write the other Ivies and tell them we win by common opponent,” Graham said. “No, you can’t read too much into it. I expect the Ivy season will be very challenging this year.”

The Crimson heads south for the weekend, playing Miami on Friday and Florida International University on Saturday.

—Staff writer Tyler D. Sipprelle can be reached at sipprell@fas.harvard.edu.