Women's Tennis Places Third at ECAC Championship

Pictured: Hideko Tachibana (photo courtesy of DSPics.com).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Despite dropping the doubles point, the Harvard women's tennis team rallied during singles play to earn a 4-2 win over Princeton and capture third place at the ECAC Indoor Tennis Championships Sunday afternoon.

Harvard fell in the No. 1 and 3 doubles matches. Sophomore Holly Cao and junior Samantha Rosekrans lost 8-6 to Hilary Bartlett and Taylor Marable, and Sophie Chang and Alex Lehman fell 8-4 to Sarah Hoffman and Melissa Saiontz. The No. 2 doubles match went unfinished since the doubles point was already awarded.

The Crimson picked up wins in the No. 1, 2, 4 and 5 singles to win the match. Cao defeated Bartlett, 6-2, 6-1 in the No. 1 matchup. Hideko Tachibana earned a 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) win over Saiontz in the No. 2 match.  Rosekrans and Chang picked up the final points for Harvard with wins in the No. 4 and 5 spots. Rosekrans easily defeated Monica Chow, 6-0, 6-1, while Chang beat Marable, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Harvard travels to the Midwest to take on Purdue and Illinois, Feb. 27 and 28, respectively.  

Doubles
1. Bartlett/Marable (P) def. Cao/Rosekrans (H), 8-6
2. Norton/Tachibana (H) vs. Chow/R. Saiontz (P), unfinished
3. Hoffman/M. Saiontz (P) def. Chang/Lehman (H), 8-4

Singles
1. Holly Cao (H) def. Hilary Bartlett (P), 6-2, 6-1
2. Hideko Tachibana (H) def. Melissa Saiontz (P): 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
3. Kristin Norton (H) vs. Rachel Saiontz (P), unfinished
4. Samantha Rosekrans (H) def. Monica Chow (P), 6-0, 6-1
5. Sophie Chang (H) def. Taylor Marable (P), 6-3, 7-6 (4)
6. Blakely Ashley (P) def. Alexandra Lehman (H), 6-1, 6-2