Maryland Takes Tight 4-3 Victory Over Women's Tennis

After a strong performance against UMass last weekend, the No. 60 Harvard women’s tennis team dropped its contest at No. 40 Maryland on Saturday, 4-3, in College Park, Md.

Though usually commanding in doubles, the Crimson fell at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots fell to the Terps, and the doubles point proved to be the deciding factor in the match between the two ITA-ranked schools, which split the singles matches 3-3.

In singles, Cristina Stancu overtook junior co-captain Hideko Tachibana at the No. 1 position. At the No. 2 spot, fellow junior co-captain Kristin Norton also lost, falling to Ana Belzunce. Freshman Sylvia Li suffered Harvard’s third singles loss, falling to Mikele Irazusta at the No. 6 position.

The middle courts fared better for Harvard. Junior Camille Jania, senior Samantha Gridley, and sophomore Hannah Morrill each won at the third, fourth, and fifth court, respectively.

But with the doubles point earned for Maryland earlier in the match, the home team had the edge on the day and beat the Crimson, 4-3.

The match opened with Harvard’s No. 1 doubles team, Tachibana and Norton, who are ranked nationally as the 25th-best tandem, losing to Maryland’s 37th-ranked Belzunce and Welma Luus, 8-6.

The loss for Tachibana and Norton was uncharacteristic for the duo, which boasts a 9-2 record.

“[Belzunce and Luus] were better at playing with their own strategy,” Norton said. “If Hideko and I came into the match a little more poised and were a little more aggressive and played our game like usual, then I think we could have won. But I think we were a little too tentative in the beginning.”

Belzunce and Luus quickly took the early lead, going 2-0 to begin the day. After the match, Norton identified the poor start as the main reason for her tandem’s loss.

“Especially in these eight-game pro sets, you have to get an early lead usually because it can go by fast, and we weren’t able to do that,” Norton said. “So I think that was the main reason we lost.”

Harvard’s other loss came at the No. 2 doubles court, where the Terps took control of the match, winning 8-2.

At the No. 3 position, the Crimson duo of Jania and Gridley kept the visitors from being swept in the doubles with an 8-4 victory over Maryland. But their win was not enough for Harvard, and the Terps transitioned into singles matches with a 1-0 lead from the doubles point.

Jania and Gridley’s success carried over to their singles matches.

At the No. 3 spot, Jania kept Luus to a clean slate, shutting out her foe, 6-0, 6-0.

One court over at the No. 4 position, Gridley also claimed a convincing victory, winning 6-1, 6-4.

The Crimson’s first singles loss of the day was at the No. 6 court, where Maryland freshman Irazusta came out victorious in a second-set tiebreaker to beat Li, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

With the team score at 2-2, the winner of the day’s match was still very much in the air.

At the top two courts, Tachibana and Norton both lost their first sets, 7-5. Tachibana put up a fight against Stancu, but the Harvard No. 1 could not keep up, and a 6-4 second set loss by Tachibana put Maryland ahead, 3-2.

Very soon afterwards, Norton fell to Belzunce, 6-2, which sealed the victory for the Terps.

“We fought really hard, but we just couldn’t pull it out,” Norton said. “I think it could have gone either way. Essentially with these 4-3 matches, I think the key was that Maryland was more poised on the court.”

Although the victor for the match was already decided, Morrill finished her bout at the No. 5 position, winning 6-7, 6-0, 6-4 against her opponent.

Next up, the Crimson faces Boston College, which it beat 5-2 last year, at the Murr Center tennis courts on Thursday, marking Harvard’s first of five straight home contests.

“[BC is] always a really tough match,” Norton said. “We know this year they’ll come out fighting hard. But we’re really excited, though. I think we learned a lot from our match against Maryland.”

—Staff writer Taryn I. Kurcz can be reached at kurcz13@college.harvard.edu.