No. 36 Yale Defeats No. 66 Harvard, Keeping Ivy League Championship Hopes Alive
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The No. 36 Yale women's tennis team defeated No. 66 Harvard 6-1 Friday afternoon at Harvard's Murr Tennis Courts. Yale improved to 4-1 in the Ivy League and dropped the Crimson to 4-1, with the tiebreaker in favor of Yale.
The match began with a Harvard victory at the No. 1 doubles spot, but from there Yale asserted its dominance, with junior Vicky Brook and sophomore Elizabeth Epstein winning at the No. 2 doubles spot and freshmen Kim Szokol and Blair Seideman taking their match at the No. 3 spot, giving Yale the first point of the match.
In singles, Yale took victories at No. 2 with Epstein, No. 3 with Seideman, and No. 6 with senior captain Stevi Petrelli in straight sets. The team also got victories in three sets from junior Stephanie Kent at No. 4 and Sullivan at No. 5, taking the victory handily.
"It was a total team effort, and we came up big against our biggest Ivy rivals," said Seideman.
The match sets Yale up for Sunday's showdown against Dartmouth, which is 5-0 in league play. Should Yale defeat Dartmouth, a win over Brown after that would give the Bulldogs at least a share of the Ivy League title.
| Position | Harvard University | Yale University | Winner | Score |
| #1 Singles | #86 Holly Cao | Victoria Brook | Harvard University | 6-3, 6-3 |
| #2 Singles | Hideko Tachibana | Elizabeth Epstein | Yale University | 6-2, 7-6 |
| #3 Singles | Kristin Norton | Blair Seideman | Yale University | 6-2, 6-0 |
| #4 Singles | Natalie Blosser | Stephanie Kent | Yale University | 6-3, 4-6, 10-4 |
| #5 Singles | Hannah Morrill | Annie Sullivan | Yale University | 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 |
| #6 Singles | Samantha Gridley | Stevi Petrelli | Yale University | 6-4, 6-4 |
| #1 Doubles | Hideko Tachibana Kristin Norton |
Annie Sullivan Lindsay Clark |
Harvard University | 8-2 |
| #2 Doubles | Holly Cao Hannah Morrill |
Elizabeth Epstein Victoria Brook |
Yale University | 8-6 |
| #3 Doubles | Samantha Rosekrans Natalie Blosser |
Blair Seideman Kim Szokol |
Yale University | 8-4 |
Report by Calvin Bohn '14, Yale Sports Publicity