Harvard’s Singles Success Highlights Tournament

The Harvard women’s tennis team picked up right where it left off last season. The 2009 Ivy League champions posted impressive results this weekend at the 17th annual William and Mary Invitational, sending two players—sophomore Holly Cao and freshman Hideko Tachibana—to the championship match in Flight A Singles.

“I’m really impressed with the way our team competed this weekend,” Crimson coach Traci Green said. “We’re a week and a half into school and our freshmen were terrific. They come with a lot of new energy and it should be a great fall for everybody.”

The Invitational, an individual tournament, hosted players from 11 colleges and separated play into several draws based on skill levels.

In the Flight A singles draw, Tachibana defeated Cao, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, in the finals. The match was the culmination of a tremendous weekend for both players. Tachibana won her first match in three sets before disposing of her next two opponents by scores of 6-2, 6-4 and 7-5, 3-4, respectively.

Though the first-year faced no ranked opponents over the weekend, she did defeat challengers who had beaten the No. 73 and No. 107 nationally-ranked collegiate players.

On the other side of the draw, Cao opened the fall season with a 6-3, 6-4 win and then squashed third-seeded Yevgeniya Stupak 6-0, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Stupak, from East Tennessee State University, was ranked No. 98 in the nation. In the semifinals, Cao dueled Michaela Kissel of Marshall, who was seeded first and ranked No. 36 nationally. After a long battle, Cao emerged with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory.

“I really don’t know how to talk about my matches,” Cao said. “[The matches against ranked opponents] were tough matches obviously. I’m glad I came away with the win and that’s all that matters.”

In Flight B, junior captain Samantha Rosekrans won her first match but fell in the quarterfinals and in the consolation draw. Rosekrans will lead a young team this season that has no seniors and just two juniors on its roster.

In the Flight C draw, freshman Kristin Norton cruised without dropping a set. She won her semifinal match 6-3, 6-2 and defeated Yassmine Alkema of Winthrop 6-0, 6-1 to take the championship.

“I didn’t catch a lot of matches, but I think everyone performed well,” Cao said. “Especially the freshman—they stepped it up.”

Also in Flight C, junior Agnes Sibilski went 0-2, losing to the fourth seed in the first-round and the eventual consolation draw winner in her next match.

Another freshman, Sophie Chang, won the Flight D championship, downing Kristina Koprcina of Marshall in the finals 6-4, 6-2. In the semifinals, Koprcina ousted Harvard freshman Alex Lehman 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 to prevent an all-Crimson final.

Overall, the Crimson dominated the singles draws, coming away with championships for Flight A, Flight C, and Flight D.

“We had quite a few people make it to the finals, so we had a very strong tournament,” Green said. “I could tell by the way we were competing in practice that we were hungry and we were ready.”

In doubles, Harvard did not fair well in Flight A. The team of Chang and Sibilski dropped two matches before rebounding with a 9-8 victory over a team from Maryland. The tandem of Norton and Rosekrans lost the first-round match but came away with an 8-4 victory against a fourth-seeded pair from East Tennessee State. Altogether, the two teams in the top flight went 3-5 in the three-day tournament.

In Flight B, Cao and Lehman made a strong run to the finals winning matches with the scores of 9-7, 8-2, and 8-5. In the championship, a pair from Marshall defeated the two 9-7.

“I feel like our singles was our strong point this weekend,” Green said. “Doubles was a little rusty...some kinks to work out. We’re going to work around with some combinations and see how things go.”

The fall tennis season, which consists of several individual tournaments, is a precursor to the team season in the spring. The Crimson will to keep its momentum going this weekend at the Harvard Invitational.

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