Women’s Tennis Falls to No. 48 Princeton and Penn | Sports

Harvard began its away weekend at Princeton, where the Crimson fell to the Tigers in a 3-4 heartbreaker.

Beginning the match at a high point, Harvard was locked into a contentious round of doubles that had the determining set come down to the nationally ranked No. 40 doubles team of Yakoff and junior Kavya Karra.

On court three, the Harvard team of junior Natalie Block and sophomore Natasha Rajaram was unable to overcome the Tiger duo of junior Alice Ferlito and sophomore Maren Urata. However, on court two, junior Kate Kim and freshman Claire Shao earned a 6-3 win against Princeton.

Yakoff and Karra rose to the occasion after being initially down against the No. 78-ranked Tigers pairing of junior Tsehay Driscoll and sophomore Pearlie Zhang. Propelling Harvard into the lead, the duo took the set 6-4 and gave their team the advantage going into singles.

The first singles matches went to Princeton, with a loss on court four by sophomore Anna-Raphaelle Serghi and on court three by Shao. Shao took her first set to a tough tiebreak, but ultimately was not able to beat senior Eva Elbaz in the next two sets.

Karra and Block, at spots two and six, respectively, managed to put Harvard ahead with their gritty wins over Princeton’s junior Bella Chhiv and Driscoll, respectively. The juniors each took their opponents to three sets, and tallied two additional points for the Crimson.

Courts one and five also found themselves locked in matches where they fought point for point. No. 86 Yakoff won her first set against ranked competition, No. 87 Ferlito, but was unable to continue the momentum and dropped the match.

Freshman Andra Braicu also fought hard at the fifth spot, but lost in a tiebreak against Zhang. The Tigers were able to clinch the match and defend their home courts.

Also impacting the match’s flow was the rain, which forced players to change to indoor courts halfway through their matches.

Harvard began its second match of the weekend with a challenging start in doubles. Filling in for the injured Yakoff at the first spot, the pair of Shao and Kim was defeated by the Quakers’ team of senior Maya Urata and freshman Joleen Shaw. Penn was also successful on the third court with a 6-2 win over Karra and Serghi.

Yakoff’s absence put the Crimson in tougher matchups, with all players stepping up to play in more challenging spots.

Starting singles with a one-point deficit, the Crimson continued to battle it out with the Quakers with disappointing results.

Harvard earned its first and only point with a court two win by Shao in straight sets, the freshman beating her Penn rival 6-2, 6-4.

Karra and Braicu’s matches on court one and four, respectively, were highly competitive. Both players dropped their first sets, won their second, and fell in their third to their opponents.

Kim, too, struggled at the fifth spot against Saw. After falling 6-4, 6-4, Harvard ended its match with one point to the Quakers’ four.

The Crimson will continue to face off against Ivy League competition with a match against Brown at home on Friday, April 10, and at Yale on Sunday, April 12th. As reigning Ivy League Champions, Harvard will continue to defend its title in the upcoming matches.