CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Freshman Radina Dimitrova came back for a three-set win to lift the No. 68 Portland Pilots to a 4-3 victory over No. 72 Harvard Saturday at the Murr Center. The Pilots improve to 1-4 on the season will all four losses coming to top 50 opponents. The Crimson fall to 2-4 with three losses against ranked opposition.
With the match tied at 3-3, the deciding point came down to Dimitrova and Nikki Kallenberg at No. 2 singles. Kallenberg had won the first set 6-4 and was leading the second 5-2, but Dimitrova forced a tiebreaker and fought off match point to force a third set. She then won 6-3 before being mobbed by teammates to give the Pilots their first win of the season against a front-loaded schedule.
"This was one of the best wins in our program history," Portland head coach Susie Campbell said. "We had a few close ones in the past few weeks and our players understood going into this match that it would come down to a few points."
Portland secured the vital doubles point with 6-4 wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Lucia Butkovska and Jelena Lazarevic picked up their first doubles with at No. 1, while Dimitrova teamed with fellow freshman Tatiana Grigoryan for the win at No. 3.
"We came out strong and assertive in doubles and it really payed off," Campbell noted.
Butkovska then improved to 3-0 at No. 1 singles with a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over June Lee. Senior Maja Mladenovic also defeated Erica Oosterhout at No. 3 singles by a 6-4, 6-3 margin for the other Pilot points.
"In singles we battled really well especially at the top. Lucia and Maja played some of the best tennis of their careers against really talented players to put us ahead. Then Radina wrote one of the best stories of our program with her performance. She persevered through tough moments and really showed a lot of heart today."
The weekend concludes with yet another matchup against a ranked opponent on the road. The Pilots visit No. 61 Brown (3-3) on Sunday at 7 a.m. (PT).
"This group has a lot of fight," Campbell added, "I am sure that every one of these players is excited to keep this momentum going tomorrow."
#68 Portland 4, #72 Harvard 3
Cambridge, Mass. (Murr Center)
February 13, 2016
Singles1. BUTKOVSKA, Lucia (POR) def. LEE, June (HARV) 6-3, 6-3
2. DIMITROVA, Radina (POR) def. KALLENBERG, Nikki (HARV) 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3
3. MLADENOVIC, Maja (POR) def. OOSTERHOUT, Erica (HARV) 6-4, 6-3
4. RINGBLOM, Annika (HARV) def. DHATT, Saroop (POR) 6-0, 6-1
5. XIONG, Sabrina (HARV) def. LAZAREVIC, Jelena (POR) 2-6, 6-2, 6-0
6. HE, Amy (HARV) def. GRIGORYAN, Tatiana (POR) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles1. BUTKOVSKA, Lucia/LAZAREVIC, Jelena (POR) def. LEE, June/OOSTERHOUT, Erica (HARV) 6-4
2. RINGBLOM, Annika/XIONG, Sabrina (HARV) def. MLADENOVIC, Maja/GOULD, Emily (POR) 6-4
3. DIMITROVA, Radina/GRIGORYAN, Tatiana (POR) def. KALLENBERG, Nikki/JASPER, Isabel (HARV) 6-4
