Excepting sophomore Julie Monrad’s match at No. 9, each of the other matches were won in straight frames. After losing her third game, Monrad came back and dominated the fourth, giving up only four points en route to defeating sophomore Stephanie Lee, 11-3, 11-5, 9-11, 11-4.
HARVARD 9, No. 15 AMHERST 0
Playing at home against its highest-ranked opponent of the day for the first time since 2003, Harvard did not drop a single game to the Lord Jeff crew. The Crimson is now 10-0 against Amherst.
“We got a lot of matches in against teams we don’t normally have the opportunity to play,” Brinkley said. “Overall, it was a great weekend for us.”
Junior Laura Gemmell made her only appearance of the weekend in the top spot versus rookie Arielle Lehman. The All-American easily dropped her opponent, notching a final score of 11-1, 11-4, 11-3.
But the most impressive performance of the day might just go to Murray. In her first career start, the Bronxville, N.Y. native took the first two frames, 11-1, 11-2, before blanking senior Lord Jeff Megan Clower 11-0 in the final frame.
“They’ve been doing such a good job,” said Anzik of Harvard’s rookies. “They’ve also been very supportive teammates, and it has been really obvious in the past couple of weeks. They’ve been very hardworking and they’ve been fitting in with the team well,” she added.
Anzik, too, did well on the weekend—against Amherst’s Rachel Lupien at No. 8, she won by an impressive margin, winning two of the three games with a score of 11-1.
At No. 3 and No. 4, juniors Natasha Kingshott and Sarah Mumanachit made quick work of their opponents, extending their undefeated seasons. Gemmell, Guruge, Mendez, Chu, and junior Eliza Calihan also have spotless records thus far.
The next challenge for the squad will be maintaining momentum and focus over the long winter break.
Following the New Year, the Crimson will face several top-10 teams, starting with No. 5 Penn.
But the team remains confident.
“You can see the intensity and focus increase in every player at practice as we get closer to the [tougher matches],” Brinkley said.
—Staff writer Molly E. Kelly can be reached at mkelly@college.harvard.edu.