Women's Tennis Falls Twice in California Swing

While another blizzard was roaring through Cambridge, the Harvard women’s tennis team traveled to sunny Northern California to take on two of the nation’s top teams this weekend. On Saturday, the No. 46 Crimson fell to No. 10 Stanford and on Sunday Harvard was defeated by No. 5 California.

Harvard fell 7-0 both days in outdoor matches, but the young Crimson team (4-3) was able to keep it competitive against many nationally ranked singles and doubles players. During her time as coach, Traci Green said she has made it a priority to schedule challenging nonconference matches for her team.

“We can play against anybody,” Green said. “We like to play a tough schedule and we know the season’s going to be tough for us. We’re not afraid to schedule tough opponents and we’re looking to build off this.”

CALIFORNIA, 7, HARVARD, 0

Harvard was no match for a Golden Bears team (5-1) that featured five nationally ranked singles players and two nationally ranked doubles teams. Bears sophomore Maegan Manasse, the nation’s No. 1 collegiate player, defeated freshman Nikki Kallenberg, 6-2, 6-1.

“You could definitely tell that they were [top-level programs],” sophomore June Lee said. “On bigger points and at crucial times, they were able to step it up and execute. They also play higher level teams [more often] than we do.”

Junior Amanda Lin played in the tightest match of the day for the Crimson, taking a set from Cal senior Cecilia Estlander before falling in the third. Lin, Harvard’s sixth singles player on Sunday, was the only Crimson player to take a set from her opponent in the two days of action.

“This definitely is a good learning experience and it gives us encouragement because we know that we can compete with teams like this,” Lee said. “We should just have confidence going forward from here and if we can compete with these guys, we can be able to compete and win our next matches.”

Playing from the second singles position, Monica Lin fell to junior Klara Fabikova, 6-2, 6-4, while freshman Ellen Jang-Milsten lost to No. 20 Zsofi Susanyi. Amy He and captain Sylvia Li both dropped 6-1, 6-1 contests to nationally ranked Cal players.

In doubles action, Harvard’s top duo of M. Lin and freshman Annika Ringblom fell to eighth-ranked Manasse and sophomore Denise Starr while Li and Jang-Millsten were bested by Fabikova and Susanyi, the nation’s 16th-ranked collegiate duo.

STANFORD, 7, HARVARD, 0

Harvard began its West Coast swing on Saturday against a Cardinal team (6-0) that was looking to end the Crimson’s win streak at three. In first singles, Kallenberg fell in straight sets to sophomore Carol Zhao, the 10th-ranked collegiate player in the nation. Ringblom, the hero of last weekend’s victory over North Texas, and fellow first-year Ellen Jang-Milsten both fell in straight sets, 6-1, 7-5.

Li was also able to take the second set in her match against Stanford junior Lindsey Kostas to a tiebreaker, falling 6-2, 7-6. M. Lin lost, 6-3, 6-2, to 14th-ranked Caroline Doyle while He was defeated by senior Ellen Tsay, 6-1, 6-2.

“It’s always a great opportunity when we got to face top Pac-12 schools, especially one like Stanford, with such a great history and tradition,” Green said. “We were a little bit outmatched in the doubles portion, but we started to find our stride in the singles in most of our second sets.”

On the doubles side, the Cardinal’s fifth-ranked duo of Zhao and sophomore Taylor Davidson made quick work of Monica Lin and Ringblom while He and Kallenberg fell to Kostas and fellow junior Krista Hardebeck.

“It’s always a great experience to play top players,” Green said. “You get to see the game played at another level and get to really test your own skills and I think our squad benefitted this weekend quite a bit and we’re looking to build on that momentum.”