Yale Athletics

This weekend, the Yale women’s tennis team (5–1, 0–0 Ivy) ventured to Hanover, New Hampshire, where they fought Columbia University (2–5, 0–0 Ivy), the University of Pennsylvania (5–2, 0–0 Ivy) and Dartmouth College (3–4, 0–0 Ivy) at the ECAC Indoor Championships. 

The Bulldogs fell just short of a win against the Lions on Friday, recording a score of 3–4. This marks an improvement from the Elis’ most recent 2–4 loss to Columbia on April 17.

“We will definitely focus on doubles this next week,” head coach Rachel Kahan wrote to the News. “We have 2 weeks of very tough competition and [are] looking forward to the opportunity to play highly ranked teams.”

The match against Columbia came down to a heartbreaker between Vivian Cheng ’23 and Columbia’s Sophia Wang. After losing the first set 6–4, Cheng rebounded in a tight 7–6 second set victory, but she ultimately fell 1–6 in the match-deciding third set.

Rhea Shrivastava ’23, Sophia Zaslow ’26 and Jamie Kim ’25 clinched singles points for the Blue and White. Shrivastava defeated Lion Julia Haynes (6–2, 6–2), Zaslow toppled Winta Tewolde (6–1, 7–6) and Kim bested Clarine Lerby (6–4, 6–4).

On Saturday, the Elis returned at full speed, pulling out a 4–3 victory over the Quakers. Going into the weekend, Penn was favored as the top team in the league. The Bulldogs most recently took on the Quakers on April 10 at home in the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, where the Blue and White fell 1–4.

“In the match against Penn, we showed a lot of resilience losing the doubles point, losing 5/6 first sets and ultimately being down 0–3 in the match and coming back to win 4–3,” Kahan said.

Kim was the only straight-set winner for the Bulldogs as she defeated Penn’s Iris Gallo 7–5, 6–3. Ann Guerry ’26, Cheng and Zaslow eked out third set victories in their singles matches, reporting scores of (2–6, 6–1, 6–0), (3–6, 7–6, 7–5) and (4–6, 6–4, 6–0), respectively.

“My favorite match of the weekend was against Penn when I lost the first set 4–6 and battled back to win 6–4, 4–0 to secure the third point for my team,” Zaslow said.

On Sunday, the Blue and White blanked Dartmouth 4–0, leaving the weekend victorious and with prospects for a fruitful Ivy season. The landslide result was a welcome change from the Elis’ most recent matchup against the Big Green that resulted in a tight 4–3 victory for the Bulldogs on April 22.

The doubles teams of Cheng and Chelsea Kung ’23 and Guerry and Shrivastava each defeated their opponents 6–4, earning Yale the doubles point.

In singles, Shrivastava defeated Dartmouth’s Ashley Hess (6–3, 6–2), Guerry bested Katie Weber (6–2, 6–1) and Zaslow beat Emily Zhou (6–3, 6–3).

“I’d like to shout out Vivian Cheng for clinching against Penn,” Guerry said. “Shout out to Sophia Zaslow for going undefeated in singles.”

This spring, Yale has previewed Ivy competition, battling Brown University, Columbia, Penn and Dartmouth over the past month. The Bulldogs will kick off Ivy conference competition on April 1 at Brown. 

This weekend, the team will travel to South Carolina to take on the University of South Carolina (1–2, 0–0 SEC) on Friday and Furman University (1–6, 0–0 SoCon) on Sunday.