Crimson Losing Continues in Finale

The season came to a close yesterday for Harvard women’s tennis, when the Crimson (2-17, 2-5 Ivy) fell 4-3 to Dartmouth (16-4, 4-3) on the road.

Although no Ivy League title aspirations were at stake, both teams fought hard in order to send their seniors out on a good note. The Big Green emerged victorious after Carley Markovitz downed freshman Margarita Krivitski 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 6 singles position.

“Overall, we competed well in our last match today,” Harvard coach Traci Green said.

Dartmouth came out on fire in the doubles portion. At No. 3, Krivitski and senior Vilsa Curto, a former Crimson photography executive, suffered a quick 8-3 defeat to open the match.

In the No. 1 position, Megan Zebroski and Molly Scott secured the point for the Big Green with a close 8-6 win over junior Beier Ko and freshman Samantha Rosekrans. The duo of Ko and Rosekrans, which led the squad with six doubles victories in 2008, has been Harvard’s most consistent team this season.

With the doubles point already in hand, Dartmouth’s No. 2 pairing overcame junior Laura Peterzan and captain Stephanie Schnitter 8-7 (3).

Although the doubles portion ended as a Big Green sweep, the Crimson had good chances at winning in the No.1 and No. 2 slots.

“Our doubles matches were very close today,” Green sad. “They definitely gave Dartmouth the momentum, however we were in it until the very last match.”

Schnitter, in her final match wearing a Harvard uniform, went out with a bang in the singles portion. She defeated Jesse Adler 6-2, 6-3 to record her seventh singles win of the season and tie the contest score at one.

“The tempo was set early by Stephanie Schnitter, who finished first,” Green said. “It let the other team know that we were still fighting.”

The Crimson went on to take two of the next four matches to tie the overall score at three.

At No. 1, Ko defeated Scott 6-2, 7-5 for her ninth victory of the season, and at No. 3, Rosekrans took down Mary Beth Winingham 7-6 (5), 6-2. The freshman led Harvard with ten singles victories and suffered just one loss in Ivy League singles this year.

Dartmouth took the No. 2 and No. 5 matches in straight sets. At No. 2, Peterzan fell to Zebroski 6-4, 6-1, and in the No. 5 position Curto lost 6-4, 6-0 to Georgiana Smyser, who did not lose an Ancient Eight singles match this season.

With the score notched 3-3, all eyes turned to the battle between Krivitski and Markovitz. After moving indoors due to lightning, Markovitz earned the victory and with it the clinching point for the Big Green.

“I feel like we could’ve taken the doubles point and the match could have gone either way,” Ko said. “We could have definitely won. It was very close.”

Although Dartmouth’s league record puts them in fourth place in the Ivy League, the team was ranked No. 72 nationally a little over a week ago and as high as No. 51 in late March.

“They were ranked the highest in the Ivy League before the season,” Ko said. “They have a pretty solid team, one to six.”

After opening the Ancient Eight with two wins over Cornell and Columbia, the Crimson suffered five consecutive league defeats to end the season tied for fifth place.

“Overall I think the season’s been a good one for the team and we were very close in a lot of matches” Ko said.

Harvard faced a terrifying schedule this year and it dropped nine matches to ranked teams before the Ivy League schedule started. Sickness and injury also plagued the Crimson during the preseason and throughout league play.

“With the circumstances and injures I think we did a very good job of hanging together throughout the whole season,” Green said.

Next year Harvard will look to rebound and fight for an Ancient Eight Championship. Though the squad will graduate starters Schnitter and Curto, the Crimson is bringing in new players and returning four singles players.

“We’ll definitely be losing two great team members, but we also have four new freshman that have potential,” Ko said. “I hear good things about them.”

—Staff writer Jake I. Fisher can be reached at jifisher@fas.harvard.edu.