Harvard Women’s Tennis Downs Dartmouth in Five Hour Thriller

The Harvard women’s tennis team (9-8, 1-0 Ivy) returned to Cambridge Sunday in its Ivy League opener against Dartmouth (7-9, 0-1 Ivy). Family, friends, and fans were treated to a spectacle, as the Crimson prevailed in a hotly contested five-hour-long affair replete with comebacks, injury scares, controversial calls, and a fairy tale finish.

Harvard returned to action this weekend after a spring break trip to California that saw the team go 1-1 in the Golden State.

Harvard 4, Dartmouth 3

The players arrived on a gloomy Sunday afternoon to a packed Murr Center, eager to begin conference play and push past middling regular-season records.

A strong offensive display by Dartmouth and a lackluster Harvard service game at the No. 2 spot put sophomore Natalie Block and senior Maxi Duncan down 0-3. On court three, senior captains Rachel Arbitman and Angel You staved off two break points at 1-1 and regrouped to lead 3-1. At the No. 1 spot, sophomore Stephanie Yakoff and senior Holly Fischer broke the Big Green in the opening game and then held to move out ahead 2-0.

In a sign of the even matchup between the teams, momentum for each leading squad quickly dissipated in both matches. In the No. 2 match, Duncan laced a forehand return to draw an error, moving the Crimson to 3-3. Dartmouth rallied to claim another break, putting the Big Green a game away from the set.

Yakoff and Fischer’s break similarly vanished after some brilliant back-court resilience by Dartmouth, and their match remained gridlocked until 5-5.

As both sides struggled to regain momentum and claim a substantive lead, You and Arbitman provided a much-needed boost for the team, producing some inspired shot-making to consolidate and then go up a double break lead at 5-2.

On the verge of defeat, their Big Green opponents found a second wind, recovering the first break, holding, and drawing some unforced errors from Harvard to produce two break points at 5-4 (30-40). But the hardened Harvard duo stayed the course, snuffing out their rivals with an Arbitman volley into the open court, followed by a tricky slice second serve by You that went unreturned.

On the top two courts, Duncan and Block dug in to save the set, breaking to love to even the score at 5-5. A few routine service games then brought their set to a tiebreak. Yakoff and Fischer followed suit at the top position. The Crimson needed to convert only one of these tiebreaks to claim the doubles point.

At No. 2 doubles, Duncan found a forehand pass to bring up a Harvard set point. Dartmouth, though, maintained its high level of play, claiming the tiebreak.

At the No. 1 spot, the Big Green similarly turned the tables on the Crimson. After grabbing the mini break at 2-2, Dartmouth won four of the following five points to claim the doubles point.

Despite the setback, Harvard remained unperturbed entering singles play.

“I think we got off to a little bit of a slow start in doubles,” said Block. “We have been working a lot as a team on leaving whatever happens in doubles behind us and starting singles with a fresh mindset.”

“If anything, losing the doubles gave me little more urgency to bounce back in singles,” she added.

Bounce back they did and Harvard came out swinging. Courts two, three, five, and six opened with immediate breaks of serve.

At No. 2, Yakoff dominated much of the mid and forecourt, taking the ball early and utilizing a close return position. The sophomore’s tactics stifled her opponent’s ability to wind up on her lefty forehand, limiting her ability to generate groundstroke damage and creating numerous drop shot opportunities. She cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 victory.

With Yakoff’s win, the Crimson drew even. But Dartmouth regained scoreboard pressure on some of the other courts. Fischer struggled against the offensive onslaught from big-serving Peyton Capuano at No. 1. She ultimately fell in straight sets, as the Big Green edged ahead 2-1.

Despite the nominal Dartmouth scoreboard lead, Harvard continued to build upon its momentum. On court four, Duncan exchanged lefty forehands across the baseline, working Caroline Lemcke side to side. Her adversary’s rally tolerance wore down, and the senior Los Angeles native claimed the first set 6-3 as errors piled up.

Lemcke opted for a more high-risk, aggressive style of play, putting the Crimson senior in a 1-3 hole to start the second. Nevertheless, Duncan stuck to her game, continuing to play sharp. The veteran broke back and held to get to 3-3. In a crucial deuce point, Duncan lured Lemcke into the net with a well-disguised drop shot and then hammered a backhand pass into the open to break. She rattled off the next two games, grabbing the match 6-3, 6-3.

Harvard showed no signs of slowing down. After claiming a narrow 6-4 first set, sophomore Kavya Karra flew out of the blocks in the second set to take a 5-0 lead, buoyed by precise serving and impeccable shot selection. A lung-busting 40-plus shot rally breathed new life into her opponent’s game, but she stayed the course to bring up match point. After the Dartmouth player struck a forehand close to the line, an ‘out’ call went up. The Big Green player approached the net, insisting that the point be replayed due to interference. The umpire upheld the point, and a frigid handshake punctuated Harvard’s newfound lead to 3-2.

On court three, Dartmouth’s Lauren Han came out firing. Her aggressive serving and massive groundstrokes handcuffed Crimson sophomore Kate Kim, paving the way for a 2-6 first set. Kim returned to the drawing board in the second, mixing in some more variety and slice. She found her rhythm, disrupting Han’s offense well enough to make inroads on serve. Nevertheless, Han found another gear, clamping down on errors, and dialling in her forehand to dominate from inside the baseline. The Dartmouth freshman closed out the match 2-6.

With the contest on the line, players and fans hurried over to court six to watch Block play Valentina Cruz.

Block secured a 6-4 first set, and the two remained neck-and-neck until 5-5 in the second. After Cruz crushed a forehand winner to bring up a break point at deuce, Block netted a running forehand to go behind 5-6.

Block responded with baseline cuts allowing the sophomore to bring up three break points at 40-15. The Dartmouth junior dismissed the first two with some lethal offense, but the third attempt managed to get by Cruz.

In the ensuing tiebreak, Cruz’s relentless defense wore down Block’s forehand. Cruz then held her nerve through a couple of tense exchanges to lead 4-6, coming up clutch to claim the set on her third set point.

Despite forcing a decider, Cruz came out flat in the third, and Block blasted a crosscourt forehand to leap out ahead with an early break. As Cruz headed to the changeover looking visibly slower, the junior shook her head, motioned to her left thigh, and her coach promptly called for a medical timeout. Looking to be dealing with a thigh cramp, Cruz’s impaired movement hampered her serve and speed. Block swiftly held serve, broke her opponent again, and then smashed down a thunderous ace to go up 4-0.

Yet, the match was far from over. In a bid to end points quickly, Cruz adjusted her game, swung more freely, and dictated with her forehand. The strategy worked, allowing the Big Green player to regroup to 4-1 and even break Block after an errant backhand fell into the net.

“It is definitely weird to play someone who is cramping,” noted Block. “It definitely takes a lot of pressure off your opponent and puts a lot more on you. I was pretty exhausted too, but when I saw her cramping and taking the TO I just tried to act like I had all the energy and kind of step on the gas a little bit.”

The momentum seemed to slip away from Block, and Cruz’s movement appeared to improve as she held to 4-3 with an assured volley winner. The Dartmouth players erupted in raucous cheers. Despite the pressure, Block recovered her range, mixing in a deft forehand dropshot to move to 5-3.

As Cruz fought to keep Dartmouth’s hopes alive, the tension drew to a crescendo. After opening with a double fault, the junior avoided an early deficit by drawing a Block backhand error. At 15-15, Cruz fell back on her offense, pelting a thunderous forehand down the line. Block judged the ball out. Cruz and her coach protested, but the umpire upheld Block’s call.

The Harvard sophomore continued to press, and soon found herself with two match points up 40-30. But Cruz held off Block, crushing a forehand winner to save the first and then hanging on after a Block swinging volley sailed long.

The match inched toward the five-hour mark, but Block stuck to her guns, continuing the same cat-and-mouse baseline exchanges that had gotten her to the finish line. A massive crosscourt forehand at 30-30 into the open court gave Block another match point. And on the third time of asking, Block stuck through a heavyweight baseline exchange, hitting a tricky midcourt slice that Cruz sent long. Just as the clock struck the five-hour mark, the Crimson sophomore raised her arms in triumph, mobbed by her teammates.

“I think it’s great to start off our Ivy season with a gritty win,” she remarked.