Long Weekend in Individual Play

Over the weekend, individuals from the Harvard women’s tennis team traveled to Philadelphia to play in the Cissie Leary Invitational Tournament.

In the first two tournaments of the year, the squad looked impressive, but success came to a halt this week after a number of injuries prevented players from competing.

“All around, we’ve just played a lot of tennis, and those matches are taking their toll on everyone,” co-captain Laura Peterzan said. “People have gotten injured and had to pull out [this weekend].”

Due to the overwhelming number of setbacks, only three Crimson players—freshmen Samantha Gridley, Holly Cao, and Camille Jania—were given spots in the top flight.

In her first match, Gridley was blown away 6-0, 6-1 by Yale’s Janet Kim, the eventual tournament champion. Unable to find her rhythm, Gridley dropped two more matches in the consolation bracket.

Cao earned the No. 3 seed this week after winning her flight in the William and Mary Invitational last weekend. In her first match at the Cissie Leary Tournament, she easily defeated the Bulldogs’ Lauren Ritz 6-3, 6-2. However, just before the first-set tiebreaker in the quarterfinals, Cao was forced to pull out due to injury.

Jania, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, won 6-4, 6-1 and advanced to the quarterfinals as well. She then fell to Jessica Rhee from Yale 6-1, 6-2.

Cao and Jania’s losses were the first of their collegiate careers.

In a lower flight, freshman Louise Laciny won 6-1, 7-5 in her first match, only to fall 3-6, 6-3, 10-3 in the quarterfinals.

Freshman Caroline Davis, sophomore Margarita Krivitski, and co-captain Rachel Gottlieb all failed to win a match over the weekend.

Despite the losses, the young Harvard players impressed Crimson coach Traci Green.

“They showed all kinds of talent,” Green said. “They did a great job of fighting. Now it’s time to make improvements so we can do better.”

The doubles tournaments saw some better results from the Harvard players. Sophomore Samantha Rosekrans, who did not play singles because of injury, paired up with Jania in the top doubles flight. Together, the pair earned an 8-1 victory, but then lost to a team from Temple 8-6. Rosekrans’ usual partner, senior Beier Ko, was not available to play because she was preparing for this week’s important trip to the Riviera All-American Championships.

Like Rosekrans, Peterzan did not play singles because of a lingering injury. Nevertheless, Peterzan was able to compete in doubles with Cao. The duo earned an 8-4 victory in the first round of the top flight but dropped a close match with the Bulldogs 8-6 in quarterfinals.

Both Jania and Cao will be important forces in the Crimson doubles lineup this season and according to Peterzan, the two have been making strides this fall.

“They’re playing well,” Peterzan said. “Maybe they haven’t played too much doubles in the past, but there’s so much more we can learn and improve on and we’re doing well as it is. It just shows how much better we can be.”

In the lower doubles brackets, the team of senior Catriona Stewart and Laciny went 0-2, losing to teams from Penn and Yale.

This week, while Ko battles as an Individual, her teammates will stay behind both to train for the U.S. Open Invitational that starts on Oct. 11th and to recover.

“[We need] to get everybody healthy,” Green said. “A few people are injured with bumps and bruises. We’ll be taking a few days off.”