Bouncing back has been a recurring trend for the women’s tennis team this year.

After the Elis (13-6, 3-3 Ivy) experienced a devastating 6-1 defeat to No. 17 Harvard (16-6, 6-0) on Friday, they came out on top against Dartmouth (13-7, 3-3) 5-2 yesterday.

Harvard clinched the doubles point with all three doubles teams winning. The Crimson’s No. 1 doubles team of Celia Durkin and Melissa Anderson, ranked No. 28 nationally, won its match against Aimee Kim ’07 and Christine Alford ’07, 8-2.

“Harvard is undefeated in the Ivies. We knew they would be a tough opponent, but we wanted to be closer,” Olivia Nix ’07 said. “It was tough playing on the road.”

Despite dropping all the doubles matches, the Elis were able to grab a singles point from the Cantabs thanks to Kim’s sterling performance against nationally-ranked Elsa O’Riain. Kim defeated O’Riain, 6-2, 7-6 (7).

Reshmi Srinath ’07, and Rashmee Patil ’05, Yale’s No. 1 and No. 2 singles players, respectively, struggled against Harvard’s nationally-ranked players.

Srinath fell to No. 81 Susanna Lingman, 6-1, 6-0. No. 28 Celia Durkin defeated Patil in three sets, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (8).

“We gave it our all,” Kim said. “But we couldn’t come out with the win.”

On a blustery Sunday afternoon, the Bulldogs dominated Dartmouth, 5-2. While the Elis’ No. 1 doubles team lost its match to Jayme Ahmed and Megan Zebroski, the No. 2 and No. 3 teams clinched the point with victories. Nix and captain Stephanie White ’05 had a close match but pulled through in the end for the Bulldogs.

“Dartmouth has been a scrappy team,” Nix said. “It was a tough match but we won.”

Kim felt the victory was particularly sweet considering it was the last home meet for the team’s seniors.

“Overall, it was a really good team effort,” Kim said. “Today was Senior Day. It was nice to win the match for the seniors.”

Although the seniors did not have their best outings of the season, dropping their singles matches, the rest of the team pulled through for the departing Bulldogs.

“The team won it for us,” Srinath said. “I didn’t play my best. I was coming back at the end and I almost had it. There were just a few points here and there that I didn’t win.”

Nix’s win was impressive considering she had to retire due to a back injury last weekend against Columbia. She had a strong match yesterday and hopes to finish off the season.

“I keep monitoring [my back],” Nix said. “It is feeling a lot better and I’m trying to make it through the season.”

The Elis travel up to Providence, R.I. this Wednesday for their last match of the season.

Lindsay Dashiell ’08 noted that in the team’s post-match huddle yesterday, head coach Chad Skorupka pumped the team up by stressing the need to keep on fighting through the last match.

With a win against Brown, the Elis can finish with a winning record in the Ancient Eight.

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