Feb 9th ,
Cambridge MA - The University of Penn women, heavily favored
over Harvard after defeating defending US champions Princeton
last week in Philadelphia, survived a major scare in Cambridge
this afternoon, escaping Murr Center with a razor-thin five
to four victory.
For their upset bid, Harvard's Katherine
O'Donnell took the first match for the Crimson, downing
Penn's Tara Chawla, 9-4, 6-9, 9-7, 9-4, at No. 3. Alisha
Mashruwala and Bethan Williams for Harvard made things
very interesting with wins at No. 2 and No.
5, respectively in the "second shift" of matches. Mashruwala
won her match with scores of 9-2, 3-9, 9-3, 9-4 and Williams
picked up a win with decisions of 6-9, 9-1, 3-9, 10-8,
9-2.
Tied at 3-3 heading into the final trio
of matches, Harvard could only manage one victory, a 9-1,
9-5, 9-6 win at No. 7 by Supriya
Balsekar, who was playing at a lower position than she
has over the past three campaigns.
In the last match of the contest, Sandra
Mumanachit of Harvard won the first and fourth games
against Penn's Lauralynn Drury. In the fifth game, Mumanachit
earned four points, but fell, 9-4, as Harvard came
within five points of creating an upset of the top-ranked
team in the country.
On the men's side, Harvard score a close
6-3 win with two of the matches won by Harvard going to five
games.
The results:
WOMEN:
| Match
Score: |
Penn
def Harvard by 5-4 at Harvard College |
| |
Penn |
|
Harvard |
Winner |
|
| 1 |
Kirstin Lange |
|
June Tong |
Penn |
5,4,0 |
| 2 |
Alisha Turner |
|
Alisha Madruswala |
Harvard |
2,(3),3,4 |
| 3 |
Tara Chawla |
|
Katherine O'Donnell |
Harvard |
4,(6),7,4 |
| 4 |
Britt Hebden |
|
Johanna Snyder |
Penn |
4,7,7 |
| 5 |
Christina Matthias |
|
Bethan Williams |
Harvard |
(6),1,(3),10-8,2 |
| 6 |
Anne Madeira |
|
Alex Zindman |
Penn |
3,(6),2,4 |
| 7 |
Emily Goodwin |
|
Supriya Balsekar |
Harvard |
1,5,6 |
| 8 |
Elizabeth Kern |
|
Charlene Neo |
Penn |
5,6,5 |
| 9 |
Lauralynn Drury |
|
Sandra Mumanachit |
Harvard |
(10-9),2,10-8,(10-8),4 |
MEN:
Harvard 6, Penn 3
1. Colin West (H) def. Lee Rosen (P), 9-0, 3-9, 9-1,
9-1
2. Richard Hill (H) def. Spencer Kurn (P), 9-1, 9-0, 3-9,
9-4
3. Verdi DiSesa (H) def. Mark Froot (P), 9-6, 10-8, 7-9,
4-9, 9-6
4. Eliot Buchanan (H) def. Porter Drake (P), 9-5, 9-1,
4-9, 9-0
5. James Clark (P) def. Nicholas Hrdy (H), 10-8, 10-8,
9-1
6. J. Reed Endresen (H) def. Joseph Raho (P), 9-5, 9-6,
9-3
7. Franklin Cohen (H) def. Andrew Zimmerman (P), 9-4, 7-9,
10-8, 1-9, 10-8
8. Parker Justi (P) def. Alastair Smith (H),
9-6, 9-0, 9-2
9. Ryan Rayfield (P) def. Edward Reeves (H), 9-5,
9-6, 9-3
|
