Tennis Picks Up Tourney Bid

It’s spring formal season, and the Harvard women’s tennis team is going dancing.

Today, the NCAA Division 1 Tennis Subcommittee announced a field for the 64-team championship tournament that included the Crimson for the first time since 2006.

Harvard (14-7, 6-1 Ivy) picked up an at large bid with its number 39 national ranking, the highest for the squad since Jan. 30, 2007. The Crimson will play No. 19 Georgia (12-8, 8-3 SEC) on May 14th at the Hoke Sloan Tennis Center in Clemson, S.C.

Harvard’s only nationally ranked player is sophomore No. 73 Holly Cao, while the Bulldogs have No. 12 Chelsey Gullickson and No. 48 Nadja Gilchrist. The two Georgia women combine to form the No. 8 doubles duo in the nation.

Should the Crimson defeat the Bulldogs, the squad will play on May 15th against the winner of No. 9 Clemson (22-5, 9-2 ACC) and No. 67 College of Charleston (20-9, 10-0 SoCon), who won the Southern Conference Championship.

Harvard’s selection to the NCAA tournament comes after a second consecutive successful season under head coach Traci Green. Last year, the Crimson shared an Ivy League title with Princeton, but the Tigers won the tiebreaker to represent the Ivy League in the NCAA field. This year, despite finishing second in the conference, Harvard’s national ranking was enough to earn them a spot.

In its history, the Crimson has earned a birth in the NCAA tournament 13 times and holds an 8-13 record. Harvard’s last win took place in the second round of the 2005 bracket when it defeated Oregon, 4-0, before losing to Stanford by the same score in the Round of 16—the farthest the team has ever gone in the tournament,

Historically, the Crimson’s tournament appearances have come in stretches (1984-88, 1996-1999, 2003-2006), a welcome sign for a Harvard squad that is not graduating any seniors.

News of the tournament comes a few days after Harvard learned that four of its players had won postseason awards.

Freshman Hideko Tachibana, who went 14-6 (6-1 Ivy) this season at No. 2, was a unanimous selection for Ivy League Rookie of the Year. She is the first Harvard player to win the award since Laura Peterzan ’09 in 2005-06. Tachibana was a unanimous selection to the first team All-Ivy squad.

Cao, who went 15-4 (5-2 Ivy) at No. 1 and finished the season nationally ranked, was also unanimously named to the first team All-Ivy team.

Freshman Kristin Norton earned second team All-Ivy honors with her 14-6 (5-2 Ivy) record at No. 3.

The Crimson also had two doubles pairs win honors.

Cao and junior captain Samantha Rosekrans were unanimously named to the All-Ivy first team, going 11-8 (5-2 Ivy) this season at No. 1 doubles for the Crimson.

Tachibana and Norton teamed up at No. 2 doubles this season to go 9-8 (5-2 Ivy), earning them second team All-Ivy honors.