Harvard Women’s Tennis Falls to Boston College

On Tuesday, the Harvard women’s tennis team (2-1) suffered a tough loss to its local rival, Boston College (4-1), to wrap up its season-opening home stretch. The Crimson, now looking to gain some momentum and confidence before facing the University of Wisconsin this weekend, fell short 1-4 in match play against the Eagles.

Doubles Play

Harvard clinched an early victory in the No. 1 doubles slot against Boston College. Juniors Stephanie Yakoff and Kavya Karra showed offensive perseverance in their defeat of the Eagles’ strongest doubles pairing.

As a team, though, the Crimson lost the doubles point as the Eagles claimed the other two matches. Boston College’s Olivia Benton and Leyden Games secured the 7-6 tiebreak win over freshman Claire Shao and junior Natalie Block, whilst Tola Glowacka and Isavella Camacho defeated Harvard’s sophomores Natasha Rajaram and Anna-Raphelle Serghi 7-5.

Singles Play

Once in singles play, the Eagles dominated the scoreboard. On court three, Karra secured the Crimsons’ only win with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Natalie Eordekian. Karra displayed confidence and poise throughout the match, which led to her second win of the evening against Boston College.

On the second court, Shao fell 6-4, 6-2 to Boston College’s Seren Agar, Rajaram lost 6-3, 6-3 to Tola Glowacka on court four, and junior Kate Kim was defeated by Boston College’s Leyden Games in a 6-2, 6-2 match at the fifth position.

On the first court, No. 49 Yakoff’s singles match against Boston College’s Olivia Benton was not completed. Harvard’s junior captain fell 7-6 to Benton in the first set, before rebounding to a 3-0 lead in the second. Unfortunately for the Harvard fans that lined the Murr Center, the Eagles clinched before the match was completed.

Similarly, Andra Braicu, another Crimson rookie, did not finish her match on the sixth court. Facing off against Boston College’s Nadia Barteck, the Berlin, Germany native dropped the first set and was down 1-3 in the second when the Eagles clinched.

Harvard will look to bounce back from this local loss as it takes on the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wis., on Saturday, Jan. 31.

— Staff Writer Ava McCoy can be reached at [email protected].