No. 54 Crimson Squad Blitzes Cornell, Columbia On Road

It’s safe to say that it can be difficult for teams to get back into the swing of things after playing only one match in the past month—but not for the Harvard women’s tennis team.

Over the weekend, the No. 54 Crimson (7-6, 2-0 Ivy) defeated both Cornell (8-6, 0-2 Ivy) and Columbia (9-8, 0-2 Ivy) at the Reis Tennis Center in Ithaca, N.Y., and the Dick Savitt Tennis Center in New York, N.Y., respectively, giving up only one point in its first two matches of Ivy League play.

HARVARD 6, COLUMBIA 1

On Saturday, Harvard competed against the Lions in the second match of its opening weekend of Ivy play.

The No. 2 duo of junior co-captain Holly Cao and freshman Hannah Morrill finished first to give the Crimson the edge in doubles play. They defeated Columbia freshmen Bianca Sanon and Tiana Takenaga, 8-1.

Next to finish was the No. 3 team of co-captain Samantha Rosekrans and freshman Natalie Blosser, who secured an 8-4 victory over sophomore Katarina Kovacevic and freshman Ioana Alecsiu to earn the doubles point for Harvard.

Sophomores Hideko Tachibana and Kristin Norton added to the spotless doubles’ record for the weekend, winning, 8-4, against sophomore Nicole Bartnik and senior Natasha Makarova.

“It was a very solid start to the Ivy League season,” Harvard coach Traci Green said. “We’ve been training very hard, and we haven’t played in a while, so it was good to get some matches under our belt.”

The Crimson did not let its intensity falter going into the singles part of the match.

Cao, undefeated this season, added another victory to her record. Winning 6-4, 6-1, over Bartnik, she emerged as the first singles win that afternoon.

“I’ve played all of these players before last year,” Cao said. “I just try to stick to my game plan. I try to stay aggressive from the baseline. I knew what their games were like, and nothing was too much of a surprise. I played two pretty solid matches over the weekend, so I’m pretty pleased with that.”

The other singles matches proved to be slightly more difficult for Harvard.

Norton was the next to finish, closing out a tough first set in a tiebreak; she won the match against Kovacevic, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Morrill, Tachibana, and Blosser also added straight-set wins over the Lions for a 6-0 lead.

The only blemish on the Crimson’s record for the weekend came from the No. 5 singles match between junior Samantha Gridley and Columbia’s Alecsiu, the last match on the court. Alecsiu edged Gridley in the first set, 7-5, and took care of business by winning the second set, 6-1.

“It is definitely a huge confidence boost going into the rest of the Ivies,” Cao said. “Every match will be difficult, and we have to take it one match at a time, but we’re definitely up for the challenge.”

“Anything can happen on any given day. Our team has been really coming together and fighting for each match, one at a time,” Green added.

HARVARD 7, CORNELL 0

On Friday, the Crimson took on the Big Red and won every match with relative ease.

The No. 2 doubles team of Cao and Morrill obtained the first victory for Harvard, beating its Cornell counterparts, sophomore Christine Ordway and freshman Ryann Young, 8-4.

Shortly after, the No. 1 tandem of Tachibana and Norton earned another victory for the Crimson along with the doubles point by defeating freshmen sisters Kelly and Shannon Comolli, 8-5.

With the doubles point clinched, Harvard’s No. 3 team of Rosekrans and Blosser added salt to the wound with an 8-4 victory over seniors Ruxandra Dumitrescu and Sinziana Chis.

“We have been focusing on our doubles play, getting used to our partners, and coming up with different strategies,” Cao said. “It was pretty successful considering that we won all of our doubles matches.”

In singles play, Cao played the Big Red’s Ordway again, demonstrating her consistency with a 6-0, 6-3 win.

The Crimson also notched straight-set victories from Morrill, Tachibana, Gridley, and Norton, in that order, securing Harvard’s victory over Cornell.

Blosser, the lone Crimson player left on the court, edged out her opponent, Kelly Comolli, 7-5, in the first set. In the second set, Blosser was down, 2-1, before Comolli retired, allowing Harvard to blank the Big Red.

“We were pretty rusty, but the rust wore off quickly,” Green said. “And we started playing good Harvard tennis in no time. We just played one match at a time.”