Bulldogs Claim Doubles Point; R. Li Victorious at Singles and Doubles

HANOVER, N.H. - The Yale women's tennis team was narrowly defeated by Dartmouth 4-3 on Sunday. Despite falling to the Big Green, the Bulldogs claimed the doubles point, and senior captain Ree Ree Li and sophomore Elizabeth Zordani both picked up wins at singles.

Li and sophomore Carol Finke rebounded from Friday's loss to Harvard, defeating Katherine Yau and Julia Schroeder 6-3 in the No. 2 spot. Junior Sherry Li and sophomore Valerie Shklover capped off a successful weekend, winning against Jacqueline Crawford and Lexxi Kiven 7-5 at No. 3 doubles. Li and Shklover have formed a formidable partnership: after teaming up for the first time against Cornell, they have won their past three consecutive matches.

After securing the doubles point, the Bulldogs fought through a couple of tough singles matches. In the No. 2 spot, Ree Ree Li played a thriller against Yau. After losing the first set 6-0, Li showed grit in staying level with Yau throughout the second, eventually winning it 7-6(3). The third set remained tightly contested, as Li and Yau matched games 4-4. The match went into a tiebreak to decide the winner. Li's hard work ultimately paid off, as she defeated Yau 10-8 in the tiebreak for a final score of 0-6, 7-6(3), 5-4(8). This match marks the second time this season that Li has overturned a 6-0 first set loss to win the match, the first coming against Columbia last week.

Playing in the No. 6 spot, Zordani split sets with Allison Chuang before proceeding to win the match. Although Zordani and Chuang were neck-and-neck for most of the first set, Zordani emerged victorious to win it 7-6. Chuang surged back in the second to win the set 6-2, forcing the match into a super tiebreak. Despite the second set loss, Zordani comfortably won the super tiebreak 10-4 to defeat Chuang 7-6, 2-6, 10-4.

Full results from Yale's match against Dartmouth can be found below.

The Bulldogs will wrap up the season at home next weekend, competing against No. 72 Brown on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.

Report by Alice Yang '19, Yale Sports Publicity

Doubles

No. 1 – No. 19 Taylor Ng/Kristina Mathis (Dartmouth) d. Madeleine Hamilton/Tina Jiang (Yale), 6-1

No. 2 – Ree Ree Li/Carol Finke (Yale) d. Katherine Yau/Julia Schroeder (Dartmouth), 6-3

No. 3 – Sherry Li/Valerie Shklover (Yale) d. Jacqueline Crawford/Lexxi Kiven (Dartmouth), 7-5

Singles

No. 1 – Taylor Ng (Dartmouth) d. Madeleine Hamilton (Yale), 7-5, 6-3

No. 2 – Ree Ree Li (Yale) d. Katherine Yau (Dartmouth) 0-6, 7-6(3), 5-4(8)

No. 3 – Kristina Mathis (Dartmouth) d. Sherry Li (Yale), 6-2, 6-2

No. 4 – Jacqueline Crawford (Dartmouth) d. Courtney Amos (Yale), 6-0, 6-4

No. 5 – Julia Schroeder (Dartmouth) d. Amy Yang (Yale), 6-2, 7-6

No. 6 – Elizabeth Zordani (Yale) d. Allison Chuang (Dartmouth), 7-6, 2-6, 10-4