Freshman Impress for Women's Tennis at Northeast Regionals

With over 100 competitors playing at the Murr Center this weekend, two Harvard rookies impressed with strong performances as the women’s tennis team had seven players compete in the USTA/ITA Northeast Regional Championships that were held at Harvard from Oct. 17-22.

Strong performances from freshmen Monica Lin and Spencer Liang, as well as from sophomore Amy He led the Crimson squad, but the weekend would belong to Columbia, as Lions’ players won both the singles and doubles tournament.

Monica Lin had the most impressive performance of the weekend for Harvard, entering the tournament as the 17th seed in the singles tournament before making it to the quarterfinals. Lin started her tournament play by beating sophomore Sarah Bowen of Hofstra in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1.

In the next round, Lin faced the tournament’s ninth seed in Brown sophomore Hannah Camhi. A back-and-forth first set wound up going to a tiebreaker, but from that point on, it would be all Lin. The freshman rolled off seven straight points to win the tiebreaker before winning the second set in convincing fashion, 6-3.

The biggest win of the weekend for any Crimson player came next as Lin beat Boston University sophomore Lauren Davis, the fifth seed, in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. The Harvard freshman then played a close match against conference opponent and fellow freshman Jacqueline Crawford of Dartmouth, falling 7-6 (3), 6-4.

“I think Monica did really well making it into the quarterfinals this weekend,” Liang said. “We are all very proud of the way she came out and fought this weekend.”

Not to be outdone, Liang and He played their way to the round of sixteen in the singles draw and made it to the quarterfinals of the doubles draw.  In the singles tournament, Liang defeated St. John’s freshman Anna Morozova by a score of 6-1, 6-0 after a first-round bye.

Liang then made quick work of senior Ryann Young of Cornell with a 6-2, 6-3 win. In the next round, higher-seeded Yale junior Annie Sullivan proved too much for the Harvard freshman, as she beat Liang in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.

He started singles play with a three-set win over Penn freshman Luba Vazhenina, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2. In the next round, He faced higher-seeded senior Vanessa Petrini of Rutgers, but came away victorious by a score of 6-4, 7-5.

The next round brought another higher-seeded senior for He to face, but this time it was the overall No. 2 seed. Bianca Sanon of Columbia. Sanon showed why she was a top seed, winning in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, over the Crimson sophomore.

On the doubles side, Liang and He entered the tournament as the 11th seed and barely escaped a first round upset at the hands of the St. John’s pairing of Morozova and senior Yanita Arnaudova, winning 8-7 on a tiebreaker.

After the early scare, He and Liang showed why they were the 11th seed, taking care of business against sophomores Gina Li and Mariam Zein of Rutgers by a score of 8-4.  The pair from Harvard then faced the eighth-seeded Yale tandem of sophomore Ree Ree Li and freshman Sherry Li, and knocked off the rival Bulldogs, 8-3.

“The match against Yale was very special,” Crimson coach Traci Green said. “It is always very exciting to play one of our Ivy rivals. Spencer and Amy fought tooth and nail and really played a solid match from start to finish.”

The quarterfinals brought with it an even bigger challenge for He and Liang, as they played Sanon and sophomore Kanika Vaidya from Columbia, the top seed of the doubles tournament. The Lions’ pair went on to win by a tally of 8-3 to advance to the semifinals.

In a dominating weekend for Columbia, Vaidya and Sanon played teammates Tina Jiang and Crystal Leung in the doubles final, falling 8-7. This would not be the only trip to the finals for Vaidya and Sanon however, as the doubles partners wound up playing each other for the singles title with Vaidya winning 7-6, 7-6.

Though the Crimson had nowhere near the success of the Lions this past weekend, Harvard, a team with only two upperclassman on the roster, certainly showed glimpses of a bright future at the USTA/ITA Regional Championships.

“Overall, the team competed very hard at regionals,” Green said. “It was a very tough tournament, and a very strong tournament, and I feel that we played really well using the momentum from our tournament in New York last weekend and are showing a lot of improvement.”

—Staff writer M. Ty Aderhold can be reached at michael.aderhold@thecrimson.com