Fall Season Wraps Up for Cao and Harvard

The Crimson women’s tennis team hosted the Harvard Invitational this weekend, while sophomore Holly Cao traveled to New Haven to play in the ITA National Indoor Championships.

Cao, who qualified for the national tournament after winning the ITA Northeast Regional two weeks ago, faced off against some of the nation’s top competition. In the first round, Cao challenged Marina Cossou of California, but fell 7-5, 6-4. The sophomore was impressive in her consolation match, but ultimately lost, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, to Nadine Fahoum of Old Dominion.

“I felt like I could have come away with the win for both of my matches,” Cao said. “They were tough both mentally and physically.”

“I play a very aggressive game,” she added. “Both the girls are just very consistent, strong mentally. There were a couple crucial games where I loosened up, and that’s where I lost the matches.”

Though her fall season ends in two losses, Cao has been one of the most impressive Crimson players this semester. Winning the regional tournament to advance to nationals was itself a major accomplishment.

“Holly lost tough matches to top-ranked players,” Harvard coach Traci Green said. “Holly played very solid tennis. She had a great fall, and I’m very excited to see her out there on the court in the spring.”

While Cao competed by herself, the rest of the team remained in Cambridge for the Harvard Invitational, the final fall tournament of the year.

In the Singles 1 draw, sophomore Sam Gridley lost her first match, but won three times in the consolation draw. She topped off her weekend with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 victory over Jenny Lee of Brown.

Also in the Singles 1 draw, freshman Alexandra Lehman went 2-1 on the weekend, playing three sets in each match. In the Singles 2 draw, sophomore Caroline Davis went 0-2, and junior Agnes Sibilski went 1-1.

In the Singles 3 draw, sophomore Louise Laciny finished with a 2-1 record. She beat Leah Seyburn of Cornell, 6-3, 6-0, and Sloane Mathis of LSU, 6-2, 7-6.

“People are a little bit banged up and tired from the semester,” Green said of the squad. “But our team really showed a lot of good things out there.”

In the Doubles A draw, Lehman and freshman Hideko Tachibana paired up and won two of their three matches.

“Their doubles performances really impressed me the most,” Green said. “Just because of a matter of improvement from their first matches this fall to the last match this fall.”

Tachibana and Lehman beat a team from Brown, 9-7, and a team from Cornell, 8-1. The two fell, 8-6, to a tandem from LSU.

“I think everybody on the team has really improved both in singles and doubles play, and that made a huge difference in the last few tournaments,” Cao said. “I feel like our doubles has improved a lot.”

In other doubles action, the team of Sibilski and Davis went 0-3 and the pair of Laciny and Gridley went 2-1.

“Our biggest accomplishment this semester, I believe, was our doubles,” Green said. “Everyone mixed up their partners, however, I think we improved our doubles formations and overall aggressiveness. They were afraid of the ball early in the semester. Now they’re hitting Pete Sampras overheads.”

With the conclusion of the Harvard Invitational comes the conclusion of the fall season. The Crimson will begin non-conference play in January and will start the Ivy League schedule in April.

“Although the Ivy season is far away, our team has taken small steps to prepare for the grueling weeks in April,” Green said. “The biggest obstacle—we have a young team. We’re still in search of people to step up.”

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