Women's Tennis Wraps Up Nonconference Slate With Win Over BU

The Harvard women’s tennis team wrapped up its nonconference schedule with a 4-3 victory over Boston University on Saturday afternoon at the Murr Center. The win over the Terriers (7-6 overall, 1-0 Patriot League) allowed the No. 48 Crimson (7-5) to finish above .500 in nonconference play for the fourth consecutive season.

It was also Harvard’s seventh consecutive victory over BU, dating back to the 2008 season. The team opens its seven-match Ivy League slate next weekend with road matches against Cornell and Columbia.

“It was nice to see the team compete super hard the weekend before Ivies,” Harvard coach Traci Green said. “It was a good confidence builder for us, and it was great to win the doubles point.”

The Crimson was able to capture the first four matches of the day, including the doubles point, to pick up the victory early, while the Terriers took the last three. It was the team’s second consecutive victory and third in its last four matches.

Freshman Nikki Kallenberg led the way for Harvard from the first singles position. The Naples, Fla., native picked up her fifth consecutive victory after defeating BU junior Johanna Hyoty, 6-1, 6-2. The first-year improved her record to 18-4 on the season.

Fellow freshman Annika Ringblom and junior Amanda Lin also won their matches in straight sets. Ringblom, coming off an injury, picked up her first victory since February 8. The freshman bested Terriers sophomore Barbara Rodriguez, 6-1, 6-4.

“This was my first match back where I felt really good,” Ringblom said. “I thought we trained really hard this week as a team and I think when we went out there, our first few games showed that and we had really good team energy. I think we all played really good games and even the people who lost...still fought to the end and played really well.”

The most dominant performance of the day, however, came from Lin. The junior rode the momentum from victories in her last two matches to defeat BU junior Madison Craft without conceding a set. Her record on the season improved to 14-9.

While Hyoty and Rodriguez were able to defeat Lin and Ringblom in first doubles match, the Crimson was able to storm back in the second and third matches to pick up the doubles point. The freshman duo of Kallenberg and Ellen Jang-Milsten ousted Davis and Craft, 6-1. Lin and sophomore June Lee pulled out a 6-4 win over Kim McCallum and Iryna Kostirko.

With the outcome of the match already determined, the remaining three Harvard players continued to compete against the Terriers, but all three eventually fell short. BU junior Lauren Davis snapped sophomore Monica Lin’s three-match win streak with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory from the second singles spot.

Despite the victory after just four matches, the Crimson was keen on supporting one another throughout all the matches, a characteristic that has been with the team all season and has led to its success.

“The team has definitely taught me how to compete better as a team player and really learned how to be supportive of everyone else,” Ringblom said. “The team has really taught me how to compete for the team and play for Harvard. They push me everyday at practice and I’ve definitely improved as a player since I’ve been here.”

Kostirko defeated Jang-Milsten in a match that went down to the wire. Kostirko took the first set, 6-1, and Jang-Milsten took the second, 6-4, before falling in a third set tiebreaker. McCallum also went to 2-0 on the day after besting captain Sylvia Li, 6-3, 7-5.

Green went with a different lineup on Saturday, resting some players and playing others in different spots.

“It was good to see some folks who don’t play as much or as high play a little bit higher today,” Green said. “We had a couple players out of the lineup just resting them for Ivies and it was good to get [others] a little more experience and get them match-tough for Ivies.”

—Staff writer Stephen J. Gleason can be reached at sgleason@college.harvard.edu.