Standout performances by Dayna Lord ’17 and Hannah Camhi ’16 defined the women’s experience at the ITA Northeastern Regional Tournament in Cambridge this past weekend.
The two were the only members of the team to notch victories in both doubles and singles. Lord reached the singles semifinals before being defeated by Kanika Vaidya of Columbia 6-3, 6-4. The doubles pair of Lord and Camhi, who is a Herald contributing writer, reached the doubles quarterfinals before falling to a pair from Yale, 8-4. Doubles play began with 64 entrants, and singles play began with 80 entrants.
Camhi and Lord defeated pairs from University at Albany, Harvard and Quinnipiac University during the tournament. Camhi recorded a close win over an opponent from Columbia and Lord recorded wins over Rutgers University, Harvard, Dartmouth and Penn in the singles draw. Lord’s loss in the semifinals is her first at Brown and follows a 10-match winning streak.
Head Coach Paul Wardlaw called Lord “one of the top freshmen in the region and the league.”
“(Lord)’s performance, (Camhi)’s performance and our singles and doubles performance bodes well,” Wardlaw said.
“We all went out there and tried our best with the amount of people that we had,” Lord said, “I think we represented Brown athletics in a great way.”
The biggest problem the team currently faces is injuries, an issue that limits its depth in tournaments.
“Somehow everyone has a little bit of something going on,” Lord said.
Ashley Noyes ’16 and Jessica Harrow ’14 have yet to compete this year as they recover from injuries. Victoria Traynor ’17 has been recovering from wrist surgery and is gradually regaining her backhand.
While this may have slowed down the fall season, Wardlaw said he does not expect it to affect the team in the spring.
“We’ll be as strong as anyone in the league,” he said. “We don’t want to focus on injuries.”
With the fall season almost over, focus switches from individual to team play.
“We’re making good progress heading into the spring. That’s what the fall’s all about — it’s about preparation without the pressure of having to win for the team,” Wardlaw said.
The pressure builds from fall to spring, as the stake of losing a match not only affects the players, but the team’s performance as a whole. But Wardlaw said he sees no reason to worry.
“We all love each other. We love to compete and win. … I couldn’t ask for a better team,” Lord said.
The team will travel back to Cambridge Nov. 8-10to compete in the Harvard Invitational, the last tournament of the fall.
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