NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Yale women's tennis team bounced back on the second day of the ECAC Indoor Championships with a thrilling comeback win over Harvard. After finding themselves down 3-1, the Bulldogs were able to turn it around and take three consecutive three set matches to win 4-3.
The doubles point was tightly contested, an indication of things to come on the afternoon. Jessie Gong and Samantha Martinelli opened things with a comfortable 6-2 victory. Caroline Dunleavy and Raissa Lou followed with a strong effort, but fell in a tight 6-4 set. From there, Harvard was able to seize the doubles point with a 6-4 win in the No. 3 slot, giving them an early 1-0 lead on the afternoon.
The Crimson continued to build that lead with a straight sets victory in the No. 6 matchup. Gong stopped that momentum with a 7-5, 6-4 victory to get the Bulldogs on the board. Dunleavy followed, and despite winning the second set, she fell in a deciding third set 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. With this win, Harvard seized a 3-1 lead, only needing one more to end the match. With the team's back to the walls, Lou dominated her third set 6-2 to cut the lead down to 3-2. Martinelli, who had the tough task of facing the No. 75 player in the country in Erica Oosterhout, gutted out a thrilling win in a third set tiebreak. Her match finished 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(4). With the dual match score knotted at 3-3, all eyes were on Kathy Wang and Rachel Eason. After dropping the first set 6-3, Wang clawed her way back to win the second set by an identical score. The third set was a back and forth affair, culminating in a deciding tiebreak. With the win on the line, Wang won the breaker 7-2.
The Bulldogs will conclude their tournament at 11:00 am tomorrow against Dartmouth. Harvard will play Cornell at 8:00 am.
Full results available below.
Final Results: Yale 4, Harvard 3
Doubles
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Gong/Martinelli (Y) d. Friedel/Lim (H) 6-2
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Oosterhout/Gonzalez (H) v. Dunleavy/Lou (Y) 6-4
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Bassey/Li (H) d. Amos/Wang (C) 6-4
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
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Martinelli (Y) d. Oosterhout (H) 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(4)
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Friedel (H) d. Dunleavy (Y) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1
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Gong (Y) d. Lim (H) 7-5, 6-4
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Lou (Y) d. Gonzalez (H) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
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Wang (Y) d. Eason (H) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(2)
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Williams (H) d. Yang (Y) 6-3, 6-3
Order of Finish: 6, 3, 2, 4, 1, 5
