Injuries Continue To Plague Harvard

It was another weekend, another journey on the road for a resilient Harvard women’s tennis team.

Continuing its whistle-stop tour of the Northeast—encompassing competitions in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania—the Crimson traveled to the National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. for the three-day USTA Invitational.

With the collegiate tournament providing a variety of opponents—from highly-seeded national programs to Ivy League and local college teams—it was the ideal preparation for a Harvard team yet to fully recover from lingering ailments.

“I think we did very well this weekend,” Crimson coach Traci Green said. “We had some players [with] a few nagging injuries who got to play singles for the first time this weekend, so they got a chance to dust some cobwebs off and get key singles action in for this fall.”

Harvard entered the competition in high spirits, buoyed by the return of co-captain Laura Peterzan from a shoulder injury.

Following less-than-impressive displays from an injury-ravaged squad in its previous competition, the Crimson was able to accrue vital match practice and compete consistently throughout the weekend.

“We fought hard and played well,” Peterzan said. “Everyone did well in their respective brackets, and everyone’s competing.”

Faced with an exhausting combination of doubles and singles action over three days, Harvard responded with a series of encouraging performances across the brackets.

On her return to court, Peterzan advanced to the semifinal of her bracket, after securing victories against opponents from Texas (6-1, 6-1) and Winthrop (7-6, 6-3). However, in an Ivy League semifinal with Brown, the Crimson co-captain lost in straight sets, 7-6, 6-2.

Across the brackets, sophomore Samantha Rosekrans bounced back from an early loss to win the consolation round of her bracket with back-to-back wins. Freshman Holly Cao won her first match in three sets, although she, too, would later succumb to injury.

In the doubles, Harvard enjoyed mixed success. Freshman Caroline Davis and Peterzan lost their first two matches, although the duo rebounded with an 8-3 win against Colombia. Freshman Samantha Gridley and Rosekrans also recorded victories. With an experimental doubles lineup, however, the Crimson took some time to adjust.

“It was a bit tricky this weekend, because we had a bunch of new doubles pairs playing together,” Peterzan said. “We’re still trying out new players, so some of us hadn’t played much together before.”

Despite Harvard’s injury setbacks, the Crimson aims to maintain its professionalism and work ethic as the long season continues to take its course.

“We’re working hard—no matter what the circumstance, they’re putting it out on the line and doing the best job that they can,” Green said.

With two weeks off before its next competition—the ITA East Regional Tournament is next on the schedule and the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships comes up early next month—optimism remains high within the coaching staff as well as on team that the Crimson can recover physically and begin to get a good thing going.

“We’ve been very positive, and everyone’s had a great time playing,” Peterzan said. “We’re making progress at every tournament, and if we keep doing what we’re doing, good things will come.”

—Staff writer Allen J. Padua can be reached at ajpadua@fas.harvard.edu.