Women's tennis drops tough match to Harvard

As a sports reader, it is often easy to get caught up in records and final scores. This is in part the fault of sportswriters, who forego analysis for the sake of numbers, and yet it is sad to think that something very important is lost among all the statistics — the struggles for victory, outstanding plays, and heartbreaking failures.

Last Friday, the women's tennis team (9-8 overall, 2-4 Ivy League) was a shining example of how scoreboards can be misleading, as it took on Ivy League powerhouse Harvard.

"The game was so much closer than the score showed," junior captain Alex Kobishyn said.

The Crimson (17-3, 7-0), ranked No. 18 nationally and sitting atop the Ivy League standings, defeated the Tigers in what appeared to be a clear 6-1 victory.

The 6-1 drubbing is misleading, however, as the score veils Princeton's effort.

The Crimson's No. 1 doubles pairing of Courtney Bergman and Susanna Lingman captured the doubles point by decisively defeating senior Kavitha Krishnamurthy and freshman Neha Uberoi, 8-4.

The Harvard victory set in motion a Crimson winning streak that lasted for the rest of the doubles matches and into singles play.

But an odd thing began to happen as the match wore on for the Tigers — the more they fell behind, the harder they seemed to fight.

Already four points down, Uberoi picked up the Tigers' only point in a tight, two-set match against Lingman, winning 6-3, 7-5.

The last two matches, although curtailed because Harvard had already won, were filled with intensity. At No. 1 singles, Bergman, ranked nationally at No. 42, defeated Krishnamurthy, 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (11).

Senja Bajin and Princeton freshman Jessica Siebel also saw a similar end, with Bajin winning a close match, 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (9).

"It was so dramatic. The [championship tiebreakers] just speak to the closeness of our matches," Kobishyn said. "It was good competition. We played a team that forced us to raise our game which prepared us for Dartmouth."

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The Tigers were prepared indeed as they took on Dartmouth on Saturday with confidence and a justified optimism drawn from the Big Green's less-than-stellar record.

Dartmouth has been struggling through a losing season with an overall record of 6-12 and a 1-5 league mark that has put them next to last in Ivy League standings.

It was not difficult for the Tigers to roll over Dartmouth with a solid 7-0 sweep. This time, the scores accurately reflected the facility with which Princeton took the win.

Pure domination

The Tigers easily won all three doubles matches, with the closest set won, 8-6, by juniors Avantika Bhargava and Mateya McCoy.

Keeping the momentum of the doubles point, the Tigers then dominated the singles matches, maintaining large margins of victory in all but one game.

The Big Green came close to avoiding a sweep as sophomore Stephanie Berg struggled against Arden Fredekin at No. 4 singles. Berg was able to win the match, however, as she edged her opponent in two sets, 7-5, 7-6.

Freshman Susan Meng stepped it up for the team as she shut out her opponent, 6-0, 6-0.

Uberoi also earned her second singles win of the weekend by pounding her opponent, 6-0, 6-1.

The weekend was a nice turnaround for the Tigers, who finished with a sense of satisfaction despite the one loss.

"Not everything about competition is the end score," Uberoi said. "For the most part, everyone was at the top of their game and rose to the occasion."

Although an Ivy title is out of reach for the Tigers, they hope to finish the season with a winning record — a very attainable goal seeing as their last match is against the lowest ranked team in the Ivy League, Cornell. Princeton hosts the Big Red this Friday at 2 p.m.