No. 44 Women's Tennis Hosts Boston University in First Match of the Season Saturday
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.
