Williamsburg, Va. - After Mother Nature pushed the match indoors, the William and Mary women's tennis team suffered a 5-2 setback to Harvard on Saturday afternoon at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. The Tribe dropped a tightly-contested doubles point, and despite receiving singles wins from senior Katie Kargl and sophomore Jeltje Loomans, the Green and Gold fell to the visiting Ivy League foe. W&M dropped to 4-14 on the year, while the Crimson won for the fifth time in its last six matches to improve to 6-4.

For the 12th straight time, Loomans and sophomore Maria Belaya won at the No. 1 doubles position in defeating their fourth nationally ranked opponent of the year. The twosome gave the Tribe an early lead in doubles, winning the opening four games on the way to an 8-3 triumph over the No. 33-ranked Harvard pair of Kristin Norton and Hideko Tachibana. Belaya and Loomans, who are ranked No. 39 nationally, improved to 19-5 on the year.

After the Crimson win at the No. 3 doubles slot, the initial point of the match came down to a battle of the No. 2 position between the Tribe team of Kargl and sophomore Hope Johnson against the Harvard duo of Hannah Morrill and Kelly Whelan. The Crimson pair led 6-3, before Kargl and Johnson rallied to even the match at six. Morrill and Whelan, though, clinched the doubles point by winning the final two games to pull out an 8-6 victory.

Harvard tallied wins at the No. 1 and No. 5 positions as Loomans put the Green and Gold on the board with her second straight victory at the No. 2 spot. The Tribe sophomore rolled to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Norton for her seventh singles win of the season.

The Crimson pulled out the team win with victories at the No. 3 and No. 4 posts. Kargl rounded out the Green and Gold effort as she registered a come-from-behind three-set win at the No. 6 slot. After dropping the opening set, 6-2, to Sylvia Li, Kargl won the final three games of the second set for a 7-5 victory to force a decisive third set. With the team results already decided, the Tribe senior rolled to a 10-5 super tiebreaker victory in recording her team-leading 12th singles win of the year.

W&M will have nearly two week off before returning to action with its final road match of the season on Friday, April 6, at 3 p.m. against CAA foe Old Dominion in Norfolk. The Tribe's final two regular season matches will both be at home as the College hosts VCU on Wednesday, April 11, and Boston University on Saturday, April 14.

Harvard 5, William and Mary 2
Singles
No. 1 - Hideko Tachibana (Harvard) def. #109 Maria Belaya (W&M) - 6-3, 6-1
No. 2 - Jeltje Loomans (W&M) def. Kristin Norton (Harvard) - 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 - Camille Jania (Harvard) def. Nina Vulovich (W&M) - 6-1, 6-3
No. 4 - Natalie Blosser (Harvard) def. Anik Cepeda (W&M) - 3-6, 6-3, 10-4
No. 5 - Samantha Gridley (Harvard) def. Hope Johnson (W&M) - 6-2, 6-1
No. 6 - Katie Kargl (W&M) def. Sylvia Li (Harvard) - 2-6, 7-5, 10-5
Finishing Order: 1, 5, 2, 3*, 4, 6

Doubles
No. 1 - #39 Belaya/Loomans (W&M) def. #33 Norton/Tachibana (Harvard) - 8-3
No. 2 - Morrill/Whelan (Harvard) def. Kargl/Johnson (W&M) - 8-6
No. 3 - Gridley/Jania (Harvard) def. Cepeda/Mesgarzadeh (W&M) - 8-1
Finishing Order: 1, 3, 2 *