Women's Tennis Ends Fall at Harvard Invite

A freshman, senior, and a pair of sophomores brought home hardware this weekend as the Harvard women’s tennis team ended its fall season with a bang. The Crimson won both singles categories and took home the doubles win at this weekend’s Harvard Invitational. The Invitational, held Friday and Saturday at Harvard’s Murr Center, pitted the Crimson against Boston University, Cornell, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse.

“We all practiced hard after regionals [in October],” Harvard sophomore June Lee said. “Everyone had some tough matches before getting to the finals, so everyone fought hard and we just wanted to represent Harvard in the best way possible.”

The A Flight singles competition featured four Crimson players. Each Harvard competitor won her first match on Friday. Lee ousted Cornell freshman Priyanka Shah in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, while Ellen Jang-Milsten defeated her BU challenger, 4-6, 7-5, 10-4 in a freshman showdown.

Crimson rookie Annika Ringblom gained the edge against Syracuse, 4-6, 7-6, 10-8. And sophomore Monica Lin capped off the Crimson first-round sweep by besting her Pitt opponent, 6-2, 6-3.

In the quarterfinals, Jang-Milsten and Lin advanced after beating Cornell adversaries in straight sets, but Lee and Ringblom fell short. In Saturday’s final, Jang-Milsten prevailed in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 match against Big Red’s Lizzie Stewart. The No. 54 recruit captured her second title of the fall season after having won the singles championship at the Cissie Leary Invitational in September.

“Ellen has been a remarkable freshman for us this semester,” said Harvard head coach Traci Green. “She’s really showed a lot of poise on the court. Ellen works really hard and it’s great to see all of her hard work pay off. All of her matches were very tough this tournament. It was great to see her battle through all of her circumstances and find a way.”

In the flight B singles, Harvard sent four more athletes to the quarterfinals. Senior captain Sylvia Li, junior Amanda Lin, and sophomore Danielle Mirda each played to straight set victories while junior Amy He ultimately fought out a hard-earned win after dropping the first set.

In the semifinals, Li bested Pittsburgh senior Molly Wickman while Mirda was victorious against a Cornell rookie. Both Crimson victories came in straight sets while teammates Lin and He both fell in the same fashion.

The Crimson was again unable to set up an all-Harvard final, with Li achieving a win while Mirda fell to Wickman’s twin sister, Amanda. In the matchup of seniors on Saturday morning, Li was victorious in a tough fought match. She eventually won against her opposition from Pittsburgh in straight sets, 7-6, 6-4. The Cupertino, Calif. native won her first singles crown since the Harvard Fall Classic her freshman year.

“It’s been a pleasure to see Sylvia develop over the years,” Green said. “She’s come a long way. Even though she didn’t play her best, she found a way to pull through and that’s the kind of leadership we need going into the spring season.”

Four Harvard players competed in the quarterfinals of doubles play. The flight A and flight B singles champions teamed up, while the couplings of Ringblom and Mirda, Amanda Lin and He, and Monica Lin and Lee also advanced. The pairings of Ringblom and Mirda, as well as teammates Lee and Lin both advanced to the semifinals while the other two Harvard teams failed to make it to Saturday’s play.

The third set of semifinals was the charm for the Crimson, as both teams were victorious. Ringblom and Mirda defeated a team from Syracuse, while Lee and Lin dominated over Pitt. In the final, it was the sophomores Lee and Lin who brought home the title, winning by a score of 8-2.

“This is the first time we’ve played together in a tournament,” Lee said. “We practiced the last two weeks together and everything was going pretty smoothly. We wanted to work on being aggressive and communicating well. We really clicked as a team.”