BRIEF: Women's Tennis Dominates Providence, URI

The Harvard women’s tennis team enjoyed a successful weekend against Providence and Rhode Island, claiming 7-0 wins in both contests.

Despite a warm week in Cambridge, the matches were played inside Harvard’s Murr Center. Without any wind or obstruction from the sun, Harvard (7-6) was completely dominant in both contests.

The Crimson enjoyed a long break after consecutive losses in North Carolina against William and Mary and Old Dominion. Two weeks later, the team came out fresh in what was its most dominant performance this season. With Ivy League matches on deck, the Crimson hope it is hitting its stride at the right time.

Harvard, 7, Rhode Island, 0

Harvard continued its Sunday afternoon doubleheader with a match against Rhode Island (2-8). The Rams have struggled this season, suffering 7-0 defeats in six of their 10 matches this season.

The pattern continued against Harvard. The Crimson would claim the doubles point with wins in the day’s first two matches. Sophomore Annika Ringblom and freshman Sabrina Xiong claimed a 6-0 victory while junior June Lee and freshman Isabel Jasper did the same.

Harvard would continue the day’s dominance with a strong outing in the singles’ matchups. All Crimson players would win in straight sets. Jasper did not lose a set against Rhode Island freshman Nicole Kalver, taking both sets, 6-0.

Jasper’s classmate Xiong only conceded one set on the afternoon, defeating Rams’ junior Jordan Rucks, 6-1, 6-0.

Harvard, 7, Providence, 0

The Friars (3-3) entered the contest with Harvard having won two of their last three matches. The one loss came against Ivy League foe, Brown, which the Crimson will take on later next month after getting the best of Bears in the semifinals of the ECAC championships.

From the start of doubles play, Harvard made quick work of its guests. The Crimson has struggled to win matches this season when losing the doubles point but the team would not have to worry about coming from behind this weekend.

Each of the three Harvard doubles pairs took care of their Providence counterparts. The duo of Ringblom and Xiong won 6-1 as did captain Amy He and freshman Erica Oosterhout. Lee and sophomore Nikki Kallenberg would go on to win, 6-3.

The Crimson did not let up. After beating the Friars 18-5 in doubles, Harvard would not surrender a single set to a Providence player in singles action. In fact, in just one match did a Providence player win more than two games in a set. Senior Alana Prinos managed to win five games against Lee in the first set, but she would still go on to lose in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1. All other matches would finish by a score of either 6-0, 6-1, or 6-2.

Throughout Sunday, the Crimson consistently broke the serves of its opponents and will need to continue this trend when it travels to Santa Barbara later this week to face Loyola Marymount, UC Santa Barbara, and Fresno State.

–Staff writer Max McEvoy can be reached at mcevoy@college.harvard.edu.