Tennis Teams Face Big League Matches Over Weekend

It has been almost a year to the day that the Harvard women's tennis team defeated Brown, 5-4, on the courts in Providence.

But the Crimson ended up losing that match--in the Ivy League office in Princeton.

Ivy officials ruled that a last minute Harvard substitution, which Brown Coach Norma Taylor protested, was illegal. The ruling forced the Crimson to forfit the contested match, giving Brown the 5-4 for win weeks after the two schools played.

The ruling not only cost Harvard a win, but it most likely cost the team a Ivy title, which Brown ended up winning.

Today, the Bears are coming to Cambridge.

And, undoubtedly, Harvard will be more than glad to have them.

"It's not on our minds as much as people probably think," junior Erika Elmuts said, "but it will feel good to beat them."

Harvard (9-8 overall, 3-0 Ivy) will host the Bears (1-4 Ivy) today and the Bulldogs (4-1) tomorrow.

Brown isn't close to repeating its championship season of one year ago.

With more than half of the Ivy season under its belt, Brown has only managed to beat the winless Cornell Big Red so far.

The biggest weapons for the Bears are freshman Monica Catrina, who plays in the first position, and junior Sheryl Ryu. (Ryu was the recipient of the Ivy League's reversal in last year's Brown-Harvard match.)

Tough Bulldogs

Yale will come into Cambridge in the race for the league title. The Bulldogs only loss before this weekend was a 5-4 decision to Pennslyvania. Harvard defeated Penn earlier in the season.

"They beat us this fall, but I think this will be a different story," Elmuts said.

Yale's number one player is Cindy Kuragami, who is ranked 56th in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association (ITCA).

The big question mark for the Bulldogs is sophomore Audrey De-Laney.

DeLaney has been out for most of the season with a shoulder injury, but she played doubles last week, so a return to singles against Harvard isn't out of the question.