Women's Tennis Holds Its Own Against Top Competitors in Season Opener

Returning six members from last year’s No. 55 ranked squad, the Harvard women’s tennis team began the 2016-2017 campaign with decent performances across the board against the likes of the University of California Berkeley, Oklahoma State, and Georgia Tech.

The Crimson’s competitors, ranked No. 2, No. 8, and No. 16 in the nation, respectively, provided quite a test. Although the team was able to contest closely in many of the matches, they were only able to muster four wins on the entire weekend.

Besides the fact that the Harvard played against such quality competition, there was something else special about the team’s opening weekend: the event’s venue. Hosted in Newport, R.I. at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the Hall of Fame ITA Grass Court Invitational was the first collegiate tournament held on a grass playing surface. Needless to say, it provided much excitement and anticipation for all of the event’s competitors.

“It was an honor to play in the first collegiate grass court tennis tournament… [competing] against such highly-ranked teams at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, where so many of my own idols played,” sophomore Sabrina Xiong said.

Playing in the same arena that many of the tennis greats have also played in before them, the team particularly felt the magnitude of the situation before them.

“Competing at the International Tennis Hall of Fame is an experience I will never forget since all of my idols, such as Federer and Laver have hit their forehands and serves on the same exact courts,” junior Annika Ringblom said.

But the Crimson didn’t let the excitement get to its head, as the team put forth a solid effort against the robust competition that it faced in the multi-flight singles and doubles round robin events.

In the Billie Jean King flight, captain June Lee lost a hard fought battle, 1-6,6-3,8-10, against the eventual undefeated round robin champion, Vladica Babic of Oklahoma State. Lee played quite competitively with her rivals throughout the weekend, having also lost in a third-set tiebreaker the day prior to her match against Babic.

The Cowboys continued their roll in the Chris Evert flight, as Sophia Blanco bested Harvard freshman Nika Besker, 6-3, 6-3, en-route to her own undefeated singles weekend. Karla Popovic of Cal broke the Cowboys streak in the Stephanie Graf flight, however, after besting her three competitors, Ringblom, Georgia Tech’s Luc Fabian, and Oklahoma State’s Katie Stresnakova.

In doubles, the Crimson also played its competitors tightly. The pairing Ringblom and Xiong lost, 8-6, in both of their hotly contested doubles matches, while freshman Irene Lu and sophomore Erica Oosterhout claimed victory in their two contests.

“This weekend we all showed that we are a team to be reckoned with, even the freshman where this was their first college competition,” Ringblom said.

In fact, Harvard’s only two singles wins came from a freshman. In her first few match for the Crimson, Houston, Tx. native, Natasha Gonzalez, claimed victory against her competitor from Cal. After losing a hard fought battle in her next contest, she recovered to bring home another win in decisive fashion.

Gonzalez is one of seven new freshmen on the squad, along with Besker, Lu, Jenna Friedel, Lexi Milunovich, Kaelli Thiel, and Angelina Ye. Receiving a challenging introduction to the world of collegiate tennis, the group of rookies responded solidly.

“Even though we had a lot of tough matches, each one showed that we're just as good as the other teams,” Xiong said. “We all fought really hard and showed a lot of heart and fortitude on the court.”

Having completed its only competition on the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s rather unique playing surface for the 2016-2017 campaign, Harvard looks to build off of its results as it moves forward in the young fall season.

“Since this was our first and last grass competition of the year, we will going back to hard court to focus on our conditioning and match play,” Ringblom said. “We will be giving it 100% on the court everyday to show that we are not only a force to be reckoned with in the Ivy League, but in the nation as well.”

—Staff writer Jackson M. Reynolds can be reached at jacksonreynolds@college.harvard.edu.