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Women's Tennis Picks up 5-2 Win Over Brown

Holly Cao picked up her 14th dual victory in the No. 1 spot (photo courtesy of DSPics.com).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Harvard women's tennis team defeated Brown, 5-2, Friday afternoon at the Murr Center Tennis Courts. With the win, the Crimson moves to 12-7 on the season with a 4-1 mark in Ivy League play. The loss drops Brown to 15-7 overall and 3-2 in the conference.

In the No. 3 doubles match, junior Agnes Sibilski and freshman Alexandra Lehman fell behind 3-4 and then tied it at 4-4 before Brown's Emily Ellis and Marisa Schonfeld scored three consecutive points to take a 7-4 lead. Harvard scored again to make it 7-5, but Brown claimed the next point and picked up the 8-5 win. On court two, freshmen Kristin Norton and Hideko Tachibana jumped out to a 6-1 lead before Brown's Julie Flanzer and Misia Krasowski picked up a point to cut the Crimson lead to four. Harvard scored the next two points to claim an 8-2 win and force the doubles point to be decided on court one.

Junior Samantha Rosekrans and sophomore Holly Cao battled Bianca Aboubakare and Cassandra Herzberg on court one, with each side trading points. Harvard held a 7-5 lead, with the game score tied at 40-all before Brown picked up the advantage and then the game point. Cao and Rosekrans bounced back and claimed an 8-6 win, and the doubles point for Harvard, as Brown miscued on a return and hit the ball out of bounds.

In singles action, Harvard claimed four victories to secure the match win. Cao scored the first singles point for the Crimson after picking up a 6-2, 6-1 win on court one. In the No. 4 match, Rosekrans and Flanzer battled before Rosekrans came away with a 6-4 victory in the opening set. In the second set, Rosekrans cruised to a 6-2 victory for the second singles win of the afternoon for the Crimson. On court three, Krasowski gave Norton a challenge in the first set, with the two sides trading points before Norton claimed a 7-5 victory. In the second set, Norton took control and cruised to a 6-0 victory, which clinched the match for Harvard.

On court five, Schonfeld scored the first point of the afternoon for Brown with a 7-6(2), 6-2 victory over Sibilski.  In the No. 2 match, Tachibana fell behind 0-4 in the first set before scoring three consecutive points to cut Herzberg's lead to just one. Tachibana was unable to complete the come back, falling 6-4 in the first set. In the second set, Tachibana jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but later fell behind, 3-5 before tying the score at 5-5. Herzberger scored two consecutive points to claim the set, 7-5, and the match.

In the No. 6 match, Lehman fell, 4-6, in the first set before rebounding for a 6-4 win in the second set, forcing a tiebreaker with Ellis. Lehman picked up a 10-3 win the super tiebreaker set to finish off the afternoon.

Harvard returns to action Sunday, facing Yale at 2 p.m.

1. H. Cao/S. Rosekrans (Harvard) def. B. Aboubakare/C. Herzberg (Brown), 8-6
2. K. Norton/H. Tachibana (Harvard) def. M. Krasowski/J. Flanzer (Brown) 8-2
3. E. Ellis/M. Schonfeld (Brown) def A. Lehman/A. Sibilski (Harvard), 8-5
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1

1. Holly Cao (Harvard) def. Bianca Aboubakare (Brown), 6-2, 6-1
2. Cassandra Herzberg (Brown) def. Hideko Tachibana (Harvard), 6-4, 7-5
3. Kristin Norton (Harvard) def. Misia Krasowski (Brown), 7-5, 6-0
4. Samantha Rosekrans (Harvard) def. Julie Flanzer (Brown), 6-4, 6-2
5. Marisa Schonfeld (Brown) def. Agnes Sibilski (Harvard), 7-6(2), 6-2
6. Alexandra Lehman (Harvard) def. Emily Ellis (Brown) 4-6, 6-4, 10-3
Order of finish: 1, 4, 3*, 2, 5, 6