Women's Tennis's Kallenberg Picks Up Three Wins at ITA Northeast Regionals

Four members of the Harvard women’s tennis team traveled to Dartmouth for the three-day Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Northeast Regional Championships this weekend. Two Crimson players picked up victories, with sophomore Nikki Kallenberg leading the way with three.

After a sweeping 6-0, 6-0 victory in the round of 64, Kallenberg went up against Columbia freshman Star Makarome, who has been a U.S. Tennis Association National Open and Regional Tournament champion every year since 2011 and was the No. 12 overall recruit in the class of 2015.

The match came down to a nail-biting tiebreaker. After Makarome snagged the first set in an 11-6 tiebreaker, Kallenberg, ranked No. 98 in the country entering the season, rallied back to secure the second set, 6-3. After a back-and-forth exchange in the third set, the Naples, Fla., native then took the lead and edged out Makarome, 11-9, in a tiebreak to propel the sophomore to the round of 16.

“Nikki’s really been competing well for us,” Harvard coach Traci Green said. “She’s really trying to do the right things on the court even when they don’t go her way. That’s a sign of a player who wants to improve.”

Kallenberg claimed Harvard’s best finish of the weekend with her three wins in Hanover. Close scores and multiple three-set matches were the stories of the weekend for each of the four Crimson players that participated.

“I was really happy with the way we competed,” Green said. “Some of the matches didn’t go our way. However, we saw a lot of great teams out there, and a lot of our players were doing a lot of what they’d been working on in practice.”

Kallenberg had another three-set thriller on Sunday. She swept the first set of her round of 16 matchup, conceding only one game to Cornell junior Dena Tanenbaum. But Tanenbaum ultimately came back in the match’s final two sets, 6-3, 6-2, ending Kallenberg’s bid for the singles title.

Kallenberg’s qualification for the round of 16 was an improvement from last year, when she fell to Syracuse in the round of 32.

Elsewhere, after advancing to the tournament semifinals last year, junior June Lee battled Cornell sophomore Lizzie Stewart in the round of 128. After dropping the first set, Lee came back to take the second set, 6-4, but the West Windsor, N.J., native struggled to close the third and fell, 6-3.

“Everyone [was] giving it their all in the third set,” Kallenberg said. “Even just making it to the third set if you lost the first, that really showed the dedication of the team.”

Sophomore Annika Ringblom also fought a close round of 64 battle against Brown freshman Maddie Stearns. Snagging a tiebreaker in the first set proved critical for the sophomore. After taking the first set, 7-6, with a tiebreak score of 11-5, Ringblom handily won the second set, 6-3.

In the next round, Ringblom got close to another tiebreaker. After dropping the first set, 6-2, she tried to close the gap, but ultimately fell to Stony Brook sophomore Elizabeth Tsverkov, 2-6, 5-7.

“We see this tournament as a chance to practice the things we’ve been working on,” Green said. “It’s a step in our process to be closer to where we want to be in the spring season.”

As Harvard’s biggest individual tournament of the season, the ITA Regional Championships provided an opportunity for team members to compete at the highest level of play and scope out potential competition in the spring.

“We’re basically more than halfway through our regular season, and it was a great opportunity for our players to test themselves against some of the tough talent around the region,” Green said.

The only freshman from the Crimson to participate, Erica Oosterhout, faced Fairleigh Dickinson freshman Shreya Pasricah, who was 14-4 in tournament play last year as a high school senior. Oosterhout claimed seven games against the New Delhi native, but ultimately dropped the match, 3-6, 4-6.

“I think the tournament was a success,” Green said. “Everyone was out there trying to do the things they’ve been working on in their individual practices, and it’s all coming together.”