Crimson singled out
Inspired doubles play fails to move women past Penn, Princeton; foes sweep singles play
A bit of necessary tinkering with the women’s doubles lineup garnered winning results this past weekend for the Crimson in tandem play opposite visiting league foes Penn (April 13) and Princeton (April 14). Unfortunately, Harvard’s unexpectedly efficient and inspired doubles play didn’t necessarily translate into any team victories for the Crimson, who failed to capture a single singles match.
Against the Quakers, Julia Forgie ’07 and talented freshman Lena Litvak ’10 (whose usual partner, sophomore Beier Ko, is overseas for the Fed Cup) convincingly defeated Julia Koulbitskaya and Yulia Rivelis, 8-5. The Crimson win proved to be of little worth, however, as the Quakers had already scooped up the doubles point by downing junior Vilsa Curto and sophomore Rachel Gottlieb, 8-3, and the Crimson’s other senior-freshman duo, Preethi Mukundan and Elizabeth Brook, by a score of 8-1. The visitors then proceeded to pile it on with six straight victories in singles to earn the shutout, 7-0.
The following afternoon against the Tigers, Harvard avoided another scoreless outing by capturing the doubles point when Forgie and Litvak — not without a bit of suspense — took the match, 8-5, following an 8-4 win earlier, courtesy of Mukundan and Brook. But again, the Crimson succumbed to another winless performance in singles play as the Tigers took the contest, 6-1.
Combined with Harvard’s 5-2 loss to Cornell on April 6, the Crimson (3-14; 1-3 Ivy) have now dropped three league matches for the first time in the history of the program. With three matches remaining, Harvard will look to get back on track against Yale (9-8; 4-1 Ivy) tomorrow (April 20) at 2 p.m.
The No. 74 Harvard men, meanwhile, dropped a tight match to Princeton on April 14, falling 4-3. With a 2-2 record in league play, the Crimson (7-9 overall) are currently tied for fourth-place with Dartmouth.