Yakoff and Karra Chart Huge Successes at ITA New England Regional Championships, Qualify for NCAAs

In a thunderous showing in New Haven, Conn., this past weekend, senior Stephanie Yakoff reached the singles final and qualified for the individual NCAA Championships at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) New England Regional Championships. In the doubles draw, Yakoff and fellow senior Kavya Karra took the crown and punched an automatic ticket to the NCAA Doubles Championships.

After dropping a set in the first round, Yakoff stayed undefeated through the rest of the singles bracket, advancing to the final match. The Fort Lee, N.J., native defeated opponents from Boston College, Brown University, the University of Connecticut, Yale University, and Syracuse University. Having both already qualified for the national tournament, finalists Yakoff and BU’s sophomore Lauren Kettlewell did not play the championship match.

Head coach Traci Green said Yakoff’s successful performance illustrated her work ethic and competitiveness against some of the region’s best singles players.

“I’m proud of Stephanie for grinding her way to the singles final and earning a spot there too,” Green wrote. “It’s her second time, so she knows how hard it is to get there and how talented that field is.”

Last year, Yakoff made program history by defeating the University of Virginia’s then-No. 23 Annabelle Xu 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, in the NCAA Individual Championship Round of 64, becoming the first Harvard woman to advance to the singles Round of 32. Yakoff recently made it to the Sweet 16 of the ITA All-American Championships, defeating multiple top-ranked opponents in the process.

The result of this year’s regional tournament marks Yakoff and Karra’s second time qualifying for the NCAA Championships as a pair. In 2024, the duo also claimed the ITA New England Regional Championship, securing a trip to the NCAA Championships where they ultimately fell to Vanderbildt’s Célia Belle Mohr and Sophia Webster.

Green explained that she is immensely proud of both Karra and Yakoff for securing their return to the national competition.

“To qualify in two of their four years here says a lot about these two and how hard they compete,” Green wrote. “It’s a privilege to represent the Ivy League at NCAAs, and we’re going to take that seriously and wear it with pride.”

The doubles duo did not drop a single set throughout the tournament, and hardly played a precarious point. Through the quarterfinals, the tournament consisted of first-to-eight-game supersets. The team battled through the rounds of 32 and 16, winning 8-3 and 8-6, respectively. Seeded first, Yakoff and Karra lived up to their lofty expectations, defeating teams from the University of Rhode Island, Boston University, Yale, and Dartmouth.

The pair of seniors decisively defeated Dartmouth’s second-seeded team, senior Peyton Capuano and junior Michela Moore, in the doubles final, winning 6-3, 6-4.

Green expressed her admiration for Yakoff and Karra’s impressive play.

“Really proud of Stephanie and Kavya for winning the doubles title and getting back to NCAAs,” Green wrote. “Dartmouth is a very good team, and hats off to them for a great tournament.”

Along with Yakoff and Karra, four other Harvard players competed in the singles draw: freshmen Elizabeth Evans and Anna Tabunshchyk, and sophomores Claire Shao and Andra Braicu. Karra herself advanced to the semifinals in the singles bracket before losing in an extremely tight battle to Kettlewell, 7-6, 7-5. Had Karra won that match, she and Yakoff would have been slated to meet in the finals.

Tabunshchyk won her first two matches to advance to the Round of 16, where she lost to Boston College’s senior Jackie Soloveychik, and Evans took her opponent Rachel Lee, a sophomore at Yale, to the third set in the first round. The rookies’ performances mark a bright future for the Crimson’s tennis program.

“We also had some solid matches from our younger players at regionals, and we’re excited to keep building over the next few weeks,” Green said.

Though the NCAA championships are in mid-November, the Harvard athletes will now turn to the Ivy League Qualifier Tournament, coming up in New York, N.Y., on Oct. 23-25. Meanwhile, Yakoff and Karra, now having secured NCAA bids, will spend the next few weeks preparing to compete against the country’s most elite athletes in the national tournament.

—Staff writer Avani I. Shah-Lipman can be reached at [email protected].