Williamstown, MA – The finals of the men's ITA
championship and inclement weather forced the start of the Williams
women's match against Vassar to be delayed nearly three
hours. The defending
champion Ephs, however, showed few signs of ill effect from the
delay, sweeping Vassar 9-0 en route to their sixth consecutive
victory, a streak that dates back to last spring.
Head coach
Allison Swain who described the contest as “the longest match
in the history of matches,” was impressed by the way the Ephs
started strong and were flexible despite the adverse
conditions. The Ephs
wasted no time in asserting themselves against the 21st
ranked Brewers. The
doubles pair of Taylor French '12 and Grace Baljon '10,
fresh off a runner-up performance at the regional championships,
defeated Vassar's top team of Nicole Pontee and Joy Backer
8-5.
Williams
dominated the other four doubles matches, dropping only 12 games in
four matches. Nikki
Reich '11 and Kristin Alotta '12 defeated Jennifer
Beckerman and Nicole Block 8-3. Lucy Marchese
'11 and first-year Nancy Worley bested Natalie Santiago and
Caroline Dunn-Rankin 8-4. Senior co-captain
Ashley Parsons and Caroline Capute '12 beat Elizabeth
Anderson and Allysa Roush 8-1, and Genny Loomis '10 and
Veranika Li '13 rounded out the doubles action with an 8-4
victory over Melanie Horn and Jennifer Ruther.
The marquee match
of the day came at first singles where a pair of All-Americans in
the Ephs' Grace Baljon and the Brewers' senior Nicole Pontee
met. Pontee advanced
all the way to the semifinals of the ITA tournament last week
before falling to top-seeded Julia Browne of
Tufts. Pontee won the opening set, but Baljon
was able to rally for a convincing three-set victory 4-6, 6-1,
6-0.
The Ephs were
able to win the remaining eight matches all in straight sets,
showing off great depth. Regional champion
Kristin Alotta defeated Beckerman 6-1, 6-0.
Nikkie Reich topped Backer 6-2, 6-2. Lucy
Marchese beat Anderson 6-2, 6-1. First-year
Nancy Worley continued her impressive fall with a 6-2, 6-3 win over
Ruther. Ashley Parsons notched a win of Santiago
6-1, 6-2. Caroline Capute won her first singles
match of the fall 6-2, 6-1 over Nicole Block.
Taylor French topped Dunn-Rankin 6-4, 6-1. Genny
Loomis defeated Roush 6-1, 6-4, and first-year Veranika Li won her
first collegiate match 6-1, 6-0 over Melanie Horn.
Coming off a
stellar weekend in Cambridge at the ITA regional championship, the
Ephs looked again to be in top form. “The
girls played with more confidence, hitting aggressive shots,”
noted Coach Swain.
“It's good to see improvement happening so
quickly.” For
Vassar, a team who has six underclassmen in its starting rotation,
it was a chance to battle one of the nation's top team early
in the season before returning home to close out the fall
season. The Ephs move
on to face arch-rival Amherst at home on Saturday before hosting
Wellesley on Sunday.
