Women’s tennis (10-6, 0-1 Ivy League) fell to Dartmouth (12-4, 1-0 Ivy) on Sunday, which began its official Ivy League season. After a streak of non-conference wins, the Crimson was unable to overcome the Big Green in Hanover, NH.
Harvard began the match on a strong note by securing the doubles point with wins on courts one and three. The doubles team of freshman Claire Shao and junior Kate Kim was bested by Dartmouth with a 6-4 result. However, junior Natalie Block and sophomore Natasha Rajaram shut down the effort on court three, earning a 6-3 win. This left the point up to junior captain Stephanie Yakoff and junior Kavya Karra, who did not disappoint. In a contentious match, the junior pair bested their opponents, juniors Peyton Capuano and Michela Moore, 7-5, which put one point on the board for the Crimson.
“We edged them in doubles by handling the big points better,” wrote head coach Traci Green after the game.
Singles play proved more challenging for Harvard, with the Big Green fighting to close the gap. The two teams entered a competitive singles match, with the Crimson and Dartmouth making each point count.
The Big Green was initially successful on the third court, where Shao struggled to overcome her competition. Her match concluded with a 6-2, 6-1 loss, which evened the score.
Harvard was pushed even further with the sequential loss on court one, where Yakoff dropped her sets 6-3, 6-0, to put Dartmouth in the lead.
It was on court six where the Crimson fought back. Freshman Andra Braicu bested the Big Green opposition 6-2, 6-3, in straight sets, tying the score once more.
Karra was fighting on court two, but was unable to overcome her opponent and dropped her sets 6-2, 6-3.
On court five, Block turned up the heat on Dartmouth sophomore Sam Grosjean. After earning the first set 6-3, the junior entered a tiebreak where she fought hard to earn the point. Besting Grosjean 7-6, 7-5 in the second set, the match was tied at 3-3 and could have gone either way.
This meant that the final determination came down to Kim on court four, who won her first set 6-4. Her opponent, sophomore Lauren Han, found a way to flip the score in the second, making the third and final set the one that would determine the match.
Unfortunately for the Crimson, the set went to Han 6-2, which meant that the match concluded in the Big Green’s favor.
“In singles, Dartmouth competed very well like we expected, and we need to do a better job embracing pressure and executing in key moments,” wrote Green. “Credit to Dartmouth, they stayed composed throughout the match.”
Looking forward, Harvard will compete against Ivy League rivals No. 58 Princeton (13-2, 1-0) and the University of Pennsylvania (9-8, 0-1) next weekend.
“We now need to regroup and prepare for Princeton and Penn. Taking one match at a time is our mindset and learning as much as we can each weekend.” Green wrote.
—Staff writer Bianca M. Egan can be reached at [email protected].