Senior Samantha Rosekrans and the Crimson will host Boston University Saturday in the first dual match of the season (photo courtesy Gil Talbot).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Harvard women's tennis team will host the Terriers of Boston University Saturday in the first match of the 2011 season. The match will be played at the Murr Center Tennis Courts beginning at noon.

The Particulars
This is the first match of the spring for both the Crimson and the Terriers. This will be the 34th meeting between the two schools with Harvard holding a 27-6 series advantage.

About Harvard
The Crimson opens the spring season ranked 44th in the ITA preseason poll. Princetion is the only Ivy League school ranked higher than Harvard, coming in at 37th.

Junior Holly Cao also earned a national preseason ranking of No. 45 in the ITA singles poll. Connie Hsu, from Penn, is the only Ivy League player ranked higher than Cao at 14th. Cao played to 7-2 singles mark in fall tournament play.

In all, five Crimson earned singles records over .500 in fall tournament play. Samantha Gridley holds a 6-1 record that includes a win at the USTA Billie Jean King Invitational. Kristin Norton, Samantha Rosekrans and Hideko Tachibana also hold winning records.

About Boston University
The Terriers have had almost unheard of success in the America East Conference. BU has won 17 striaght America East titles and made appearences in the last 12 NCAA Tournaments.

BU is led by junior Stefanie Nunic, the America East Player of the Year the past two season. Nunic garnered a No. 7 ranking in the ITA Northeast regional preseason poll after garnering a 5-2 record in fall tournaments. She finished last season with a 19-7 singles record.

Three freshmen, two sophomores, three juniors and one senior comprise the Terriers roster. Four of the players hail from countries outside the U.S. and the other five players come from states besides Massachusetts.

Last Time Out
The Crimson hosted the Harvard Invitational Nov. 5-7 and won 15 matches. Syracuse, Air Force, Brown and Cornell all competed in the round robin tournament. Hideko Tachibana notched three singles and one doubles victory, pairing with Alexandra Lehman, at the event.

Looking Ahead
The Crimson will travel to assistant coach Keri Robison’s alma mater, Northwestern, Jan. 29-30 to compete in the ITA Division I Kickoff Weekend tournament. Harvard is slated to play No. 9 Northwestern Jan. 29 and either No. 34 Nebraska or No. 38 Boise State Jan. 30.