PRINCETON, N.J. – The Eastern College Athletic Conference hosted the first round of the Women’s Indoor Tennis Championship on Friday, with four teams advancing to Saturday’s semifinal contests. The tournament is being hosted by Princeton University at Lenz Tennis Center and will continue throughout the weekend.
Top-seeded Harvard started the scoring after Natalie Block and Natasha Rajaram teamed up to give to earn the doubles point on Court 3, but Brown refused to go quietly in singles action. The Bears won two of the first singles flights to tie the match at 2-2, and Claire Shao put the Crimson on the brink of a clinch with a 6-4, 7-5 victory.
Brown sophomore Sari Woo defeated Harvard’s Kate Kim in the fifth flight to once again pull the Bears even, and teammate Hannah Shen came away with a three-set win on Court 2 to give Brown the first upset of the weekend in thrilling fashion.
#5 Yale and #4 Princeton followed, with the Bulldogs taking the doubles point to gain the early edge. Sophomores Angela Huang and Julia Werdiger gave Yale a 3-0 lead with singles wins on Courts 5 and 3 respectively, but Princeton’s Bella Chhiv got the Tigers on the board with a 6-4, 7-6 win in #2 singles to avoid the sweep.
Yale junior Orly Ogilvy topped Princeton’s Alice Ferlito in the top flight to earn the clinch and advance the Bulldogs into the semifinals, doing so with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
#3 Columbia won the #1 and #3 doubles flight to pick up the point, followed by senior Sophia Wang’s 7-6, 6-1 win on Court 3 to give the Lions a 2-0 lead. Cornell answered with wins from Dylan Gelber and Andrea Martinez De Los Rios to tie the match, but Margaret Hui broke the tie with a three-set win on Court 6.
Hui’s win paved the way for teammate Gayarthi Krishnan to earn the clinching point, as she defeated Sage Loudon 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in a tightly contested battle in the second flight.
The Dartmouth tandem of Alexandra Orlins and Sam Grosjean gave the Big Green the doubles point in the final match of the day, with the latter earning the team’s first singles win of the day, as well. Penn’s Joleen Saw earned a 6-2, 7-5 win on Court 4, but Dartmouth junior Peyton Capuano came away with a victory in the top flight to give the Big Green a 3-1 advantage.
Lara Stojanovski kept the Quakers alive with a three-set win on Court 3, and teammate Maya Urata followed with a victory of her own on Court 2 to pull even at 3-3. All eyes turned to Court 6, where Penn’s Varsha Vedula outdueled Dartmouth’s Caroline Lemcke in the third set, advancing the Quakers to the semis with a 7-6 victory.
Harvard and Princeton will kick of the consolation bracket on Saturday at 8:00 a.m., with Cornell and Dartmouth set to follow at 11:00. Brown and Yale will meet at 2:00 p.m. for a spot in the finals, with Columbia and Penn meeting in the other semifinal beginning at 5:00 p.m. looking to advance to Sunday’s championship match.
Friday Results
#8 Brown def. #1 Harvard 4-3
- Doubles (1, 2, 3)
- Yakoff/Karra (Harvard) def. Shen/Ben-Abraham (Brown) 6-3
- Lee/Qin (Brown) def. Shao/Kim (Harvard) 6-3
- Block/Rajaram (Harvard) def. Maguy/Moody (Brown) 6-4
- Singles (4, 1, 6, 3, 5, 2)
- Yakoff (Harvard) def. Maguy (Brown) 6-1, 6-2
- Shen (Brown) def. Karra (Harvard) 6-4, 6-7, 6-3
- Shao (Harvard) def. Lee (Brown) 6-4, 7-5
- Ben-Abraham (Brown) def Serghi (Harvard) 6-0, 6-2
- Woo (Brown) def. Kim (Harvard) 6-4, 7-5
- Yang (Brown) def. Braicu (Harvard) 6-2, retired
#5 Yale def. #4 Princeton 4-1
- Doubles (1, 2)
- Ogilvy/Friedman (Yale) def. Zhang/Driscoll (Princeton) 6-2
- Ha/Huang (Yale) def. Urata/Ferlito (Princeton) 6-3
- Elbaz/Chhiv (Princeton) vs. Aggarwal/Werdiger (Yale) unfinished
- Singles (5, 3, 2, 1)
- Ogilvy (Yale) def. Ferlito (Princeton) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
- Chhiv (Princeton) def. Friedman (Yale) 6-4, 7-6
- Werdiger (Yale) def. Elbaz (Princeton) 6-2, 4-6, 6-0
- Jessup (Princeton) vs. Aggarwal (Yale) unfinished
- Huang (Yale) def. Fedotova (Princeton) 6-1, 7-5
- Zhang (Princeton) vs. Lee (Yale) unfinished