Women's Tennis Takes Home Singles, Doubles Titles At Brown Invitational

Roommates, best friends, and teammates.

Sophomores Nikki Kallenberg and Annika Ringblom satisfy all those descriptions, but for one, hard-fought match, they met as opponents in the championship match of the Brown Invitational top singles flight.

Though it was Ringblom who came out on top last weekend at the Harvard Fall Classic, it was No. 98 Kallenberg who edged Ringblom in three sets this weekend, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).

“It was really great because we could play a match and really leave it all on the court,” said Ringblom, when asked about facing Kallenberg.

“It was a really good match, it was close, and both of us were really happy about how we played. To play a competitive match, leave the court, and still be best friends is nice,” she added.

While she lost a tight match in the final of her singles flight, Ringblom was not to be denied a spot at the top of the podium, winning the tournament’s top doubles flight with her partner, senior Amanda Lin. The win marked the team’s second doubles win of the fall season.

She and Lin were partnered just days before leaving for Rhode Island, only getting a chance to practice together for a couple of hours.

Despite the short time frame, they secured an 8-0 victory over the Boston University squad of Johanna Hytoy and Sabrina Faybyshev in their first match together before winning, 8-1, against Rutgers ladies Gina Li and Mariam Zein.

Ringblom and Lin eventually faced off against Ana Yrazusta Acosta and Carol Benito of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in the championship, winning, 8-5.

“Annika [Ringblom] worked a lot over the summer, playing tennis and doing a lot of interesting things,” said Harvard coach Traci Green of her sophomore standout. “She came back ready to go, and I’m proud to see all of her hard work pay off.”

Ringblom’s has found a measure of success early in the season, despite being asked to play both singles and doubles at a high level. For her part, the sophomore also views her offseason training as having played an integral part in her fast start to the fall season.

“It’s really exciting to see that all the hard work I put in this summer is paying off,” Ringblom said. “You can only get so good technically in tennis, but to really go to another level you have to work on your fitness.”

This tournament featured a number of flights for both singles and doubles.

The championship match of each flight was populated by Harvard women, which was a welcome sight for the team.

“For the freshmen, it is good for them to see that we are winning tournaments and flights,” junior June Lee said. “For the upperclassmen, it keeps us motivated and encouraged…. It keeps everything exciting.”

Lee and freshman Isabelle Jasper won their doubles flight with an 8-6 victory over the St. John’s duo of Delia Arranz and Stephanie Elgegren.

This win followed an 8-3 win in the semifinals against Brown’s Coco Hsu and Ammu Mandalap.

Kallenberg also performed well in doubles, playing with captain Amy He in the same flight as Ringblom and Lin.

Kallenberg and He won their first match handily, 8-1, over the St. John’s team of Anna Morozova and Zofia Stanisz.

They followed that up with a loss to eventual finalists Acosta and Benito of UMass-Amherst, but rebounded well with an 8-1 win over Brown tandem Kaite Ta and Hannah Camhi.

They were handed a defeat in their final match of the tournament, falling to Hytoy and Faybyshev of BU, 8-0.

The Crimson was also quite successful in the singles category, as evidenced by the all-Harvard final in the top flight.

Lin, Ringblom’s title-winning partner in doubles, finished as the runner-up in her singles flight.

She started the tournament off with a straightforward victory, defeating Carol Benito of UMass-Amherst 6-3, 6-4 on Friday.

She carried the momentum of that victory over to Saturday, overcoming a shaky start to defeat Stony Brook University’s Ana Carrion Rodriguez 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Lin was ultimately undone in the final, falling 6-1, 6-4 to Boston University’s Faybyshev, who took home the championship.