Crimson Defeats Eagles in Night Thriller

While over 300 students watched the action film Watchmen as part of CEB’s Dinner and a Movie, a few dozen spectators sat at the edge of their seats to see the finish of the Harvard women’s tennis match. Not only was there action at the Murr Center, but drama too.

With 11 days to prepare for its match against No. 68 Boston College (5-5), the Crimson players came out well-rested and ready for their competition. Harvard (3-5) defeated its first ranked opponent this season by a score of 4-3.

Drama gripped the gallery, as the doubles matches were all highly competitive battles.

Sophomore Agnes Sibilski and senior Beier Ko carried their match 8-6. With the score tied 5-5 and the Crimson leading 40-30, a key play came when Ko broke BC’s serve with a volley down the center of the court, splitting the Eagles pair.

In the final game, at deuce, Ko zinged her serve down that same path for an ace, allowing Harvard to win the match on the next point.

At. No. 1, sophomore Samantha Rosekrans and captain Laura Peterzan came from behind to pull out a 9-7 win.

Facing a deficit of 7-5, the pair took the momentum with a giant overhead smash by Rosekrans that landed in the gallery. Later in the game, she once again showed her skills at the net, angling a ball at the feet of her BC counterpart for the win.

Leading 8-7, Peterzan clinched the doubles point when she ripped a forehand that the Eagles just couldn’t handle.

At No. 3, freshmen Camille Jania and Caroline Davis played together for the first time this spring. Taking some time to acclimate to each other, the pair went down 6-0.

The first-years then battled back to make it 7-6 before BC held its serve and took the win.

With the doubles point under its belt, Harvard went into the singles matches with the slight advantage.

Peterzan followed her strong doubles performance with a just-as-impressive singles match showing. Leading 6-5, she broke her opponent’s serve to take the first set. She clinched the second set 6-3 with a strong cross-court forehand.

Rosekrans and freshman Louise Laciny each lost in straight sets to the Eagles, making the score 2-2 with three matches going into a third set to decide the overall contest.

Ko won her first set, but controversy ensued in the second set tiebreak when BC’s Lana Krasnopolsky called Ko’s shot wide and the official refused to overrule the call. Krasnopolsky went on to win the match 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

With the Crimson down 2-3, pressure rested on the Jania and Sibilski, who mirrored each other’s play on the adjacent No. 4 and No. 5 courts.

Jania followed up a strong 6-3 first set with a 6-4 loss in the second. In the final set she converted a break point to make the set 5-5. She prevailed in the next game after almost blowing a 40-0 lead.

“My heart was clenched,” Jania said.

Leading the final game of the match 40-30, Jania could not convert her first match point and the game went to deuce. At that point, Jania forced a break opportunity and then softly angled her overhead put-away across the court to claim the victory.

Sibilski took a similar path to triumph. Taking the first set 6-3 and losing the next 6-1, she likewise broke her opponent to make the set 5-5 in a back-and-forth game that featured two match points for the Eagles.

“When you’re down to match point, then you either win or you lose,” Sibilski said. “So I said I might as well just finish on my terms.”

Sibilski barely held her serve in the next game, in which each player had a game point.

“It’s weird how in college tennis one point changes the entire match,” Sibilski said. “Every point counts.”

At the time, Jania won her match to push the overall score to 3-3. Sibilski led her final game by a smidgen, 30-15.

“There was enormous pressure,” Sibilski said.

With her teammates cheering her on, Sibilski took the next point but could not put BC away with her first match point. The dramatic match ended surprisingly when the Eagles double-faulted to give Harvard the set, the No 5. match, and the overall contest.

“It shows that if we really believe and pull together, we can still be great,” Peterzan said.