Contact: Renee Adam
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BOSTON, Mass. - The Cleveland State women's tennis team opened their spring season Sunday afternoon, falling 7-0 at No. 74 Harvard. The Vikings will continue their opening weekend trip tomorrow (Jan. 21), facing Boston University at 10:00 a.m.
"Despite the result I am very encouraged after today's match, we weren't playing with our full lineup but we were still able to put up a good fight against a solid Harvard team," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "Maria played some great tennis for us today, and Mathilde really showed us what she will be capable of and Alex played very well at the No. 1 slot. We are taking this as a starting point and will move forward and try to improve on it tomorrow."
The Crimson swept all three doubles matches to earn the doubles point and take the 1-0 lead going into singles play. Harvard was then able to cruise to six singles wins, including straight set victories in five of the six matches.
Maria Lazaris, who is playing in her home state of Massachusetts for the first time during her collegiate career, pushed her match at No. 4 singles to a tiebreaker after picking up a 6-3 victory during the opening set. Unfortunately, Lazaris couldn't hold on to the lead, falling 6-1 in the second set and 10-2 in the tiebreaker.
Freshman Mathilde Orange made her CSU debut Sunday afternoon, falling 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2 singles. Orange also teamed up with classmate Ellen Folkers at No. 3 doubles against the Crimson.
Harvard 7, Cleveland State 0
Doubles:
1. Tachibana/Lin (HAR) def. Power/Sherwood (CSU), 8-3
2. Norton/He (HAR) def. Lazaris/Liu (CSU, 8-1
3. Kong/Morrill (HAR) def. Orange/Folkers (CSU), 8-4
Singles:
1. Tachibana (HAR) def. Power (CSU), 6-2, 6-1
2. Norton (HAR) def. Orange (CSU), 6-4, 6-3
3. He (HAR) def. Sherwood (CSU), 6-2, 6-1
4. Kong (HAR) def. Lazaris (CSU), 3-6, 6-1, 10-2
5. Lin (HAR) def. Folkers (CSU), 6-0, 6-0
6. Yen (HAR) def. Liu (CSU), 6-1, 6-0
