Women's Tennis Takes Two Weekend Matches

Sometimes it just takes a turn of the calendar.

After a February in which the Harvard women’s tennis team (4-3) struggled to field a full roster due to injuries and illnesses, it started off March on the right foot.

In consecutive wins over Binghampton (3-6) and Boston College (5-1), the team dropped a total of two matchups as the now-healthy Crimson was able to put its full team on the court.

“We played phenomenally this weekend,” co-captain Hideko Tachibana said. “Everyone [played as] one and energy was really high… There was no mercy. I’m really proud of how we competed this weekend.”

HARVARD 4, BINGHAMTON 0

Against Binghampton, Harvard came out of the gates fast and never slowed up. Junior Natalie Blosser and freshman Hai-Li Kong finished off their line-three doubles opponents, 8-3, and Tachibana and fellow co-captain Kristin Norton gave the Crimson the doubles point with an 8-2 victory.

In singles, the Crimson lost only six games in the three matches that they won, with freshman Amanda Lin taking home a 6-1, 6-1 victory at line three and Blosser and Tachibana scoring easy wins at lines six and one, respectively.

Lin—who played both doubles and singles—and Norton were absent last weekend and during Harvard’s win over Boston College.

“Amanda and Kristin are some of the more energetic people on our team, so its crucial to have them out on the court cheering us on,” Tachibana said. “It was great to have them back.”

Kong concurred, saying that the strong doubles play of the pair helped stabilize the lineup during the match.

“Healthy or not, Amanda and Kristin are always loud cheerleaders for us,” Kong said. “They always pump the rest of the team up with their funny and inspirational cheers. It definitely helped to have them back on the court, especially for doubles. Having them back was crucial in helping us clinch that doubles point.”

Tachibana said that she was really proud of the team’s quick turnaround from the Friday victory to the match on Saturday. In Ivy League play, the team will play two matches a weekend against league competition and that turnaround, according to Tachibana, will be an incredibly important one to master.

“In the Ivy League it will be just as competitive, and bouncing back is a good lesson to learn,” Tachibana said. “In the Ivy League you play two matches a weekend and if you have a loss you have to be able to play the next day and have one hundred percent out there. Being able to bounce back after tough losses is something we will be able to take into the Ivy season, if we need to.”

HARVARD 5, BOSTON COLLEGE 2

On Friday, Harvard started strong in doubles, with sophomore Sylvia Li and freshman Amanda Lin taking the line-two doubles, 8-4. But the Crimson could not pull out the two other doubles matches and lost the doubles point before roaring back in singles.

Harvard took five of six singles matches, highlighted by the wins of freshman Amy He (6-0, 6-1) at the line-two position and Tachibana (6-0, 6-4) at the line-one position.

Kong fell at No. 3, but the team did not drop a set in the other five matches, winning six sets by a score of either 6-0 or 6-1.

“The team really came out strong this weekend and played really well,” Kong said. “We bounced back and really dominated this weekend.”

Tachibana said that the struggles in February, which included numerous absences by various players due to injury and sickness, have made the team stronger. The co-captain alluded to the necessity of shifting the lineup around in bringing the team closer together.

“We have definitely become more resilient as the season goes on,” Tachibana said. “We had some tough losses at the beginning and its difficult when some teammates can’t play, but the freshmen have really stepped it up cheering on everyone and looking out for people when they are sick and injured. That might not seem significant in the short run but when you look over at your partner on the court and you know she is there with you, that goes a long way.”

—Staff writer David Freed can be reached at davidfreed@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @CrimsonDPFreed.