FREDERICKSBURG, VA – The Williams
women's tennis team concluded their third and final match of
the Fab 5 Tournament at Mary Washington University this afternoon
by downing #2 Emory University 6-3.
Emory entered the match with a 14-3 record and having suffered
their first Division III loss of the season the day before, 5-4, at
the hands of #6 Washington & Lee. Emory had a rough two days,
having not lost to a Division III opponent until this weekend and
the Eagles are now 14-4 on the year.
Williams entered the match ranked third in the nation and with a
5-match win streak, having opened the spring portion of their
schedule with three straight wins to add to their fall ledger of
3-1. The win today lifts the Ephs overall record to 7-1.
A year ago in the national semifinals the Ephs blanked Emory
5-0, after winning at Emory 5-4 earlier in the year.
Today the Ephs rolled through the three doubles matches to take
a commanding 3-0 lead into singles play. “At three
today Caroline [Capute] and Lucy [Marchese] played aggressively and
that made a big difference in their play,” noted Eph head
coach Alison Swain.
Playing indoors and having just three courts available the first
three singles were sent onto the courts first and the Ephs top
three singles were just as impressive as the doubles teams, winning
all three of the matches and clinching the match with a 6-0
advantage. At the end of six and one half hours the final score was
6-3 Williams as Emory bounced back to win the singles matches at 4,
5 and 6.
“We came out very aggressively in doubles and took
advantage of every game point and we held serve consistently to get
the three wins,” stated Swain. “We really showed a
tremendous desire today and backed that up with a relentless court
presence.”
“I think the strength of Emory's team is in singles
play so it was nice to have the 3-0 lead, but I did not think that
it had locked up the match for us.” The top of the Eph
singles ladder took care of that.
At #1 senior captain Grace Baljon added another quality win to
her spring resume as she defeated the Eagles' Lorne
McManigle, the defending NCAA singles champion, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(7-4).
Last week on the west coast Baljon defeated the 2008 NCAA singles
champion, Siobhan Finicane of Pomona-Pitzer 6-4, 7-6 (2).
It was business as usual at number two singles for the Ephs as
Kristin Alotta collected her 41st straight singles
victory, but it was somewhat uncharacteristic in that Alotta lost
the first set 6-3. She ended the suspense in the second set with a
solid 6-4 win to even the match and then claimed her
41st win in a row with a 6-3 win in the third set.
Junior Nikki Reich earned the sixth point for the Ephs when she
also bounced back from dropping the first set 6-3. Reich closed out
her match with a convincing 6-1 win in the second set and a 6-2 win
in the third.
The Ephs will next see action on Wednesday at 2:30 PM when they
travel to James Madison University to take on the Division I Dukes.
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Here are the Ephs at the
beginning of the spring trip
at the University of Redlands. They remain
just
as happy winning all four matches to date.
(L. to R.):
Nancy Worley, Ashley Parsons, Nikki Reich, Grace
Baljon, Veranika Li, Taylor French, Kristin Alotta,
Luchy Marchese, Katie Friedman &
Caroline Capute.
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#3 Williams 6, #2 Emory 3
Doubles:
1. Nikki Reich/Kristin Alotta (W) def. Lorne McManigle/Zahra
Dawson (E) –8-3
2. Grace Baljon/Taylor French (W) def. Tshema Nash/Sabra Rogers
(E) –9-7
3. Caroline Capute/Lucy Marchese def. Jordan Wylie/Amanda
Wickman (E) – 8-5
Singles:
1. Grace Baljon (W) def. Lorne McManigle (E) –6-3, 5-7,
7-6(7-4)
2. Kristin Alotta (W) def. Zahra Dawson (E) – 3-6, 6-4,
6-3
3. Nikki Reich (W) def. Jordan Wylie (E) – 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
4. Lindsay Reidenbach (E) def. Lucy Marchese (W) – 6-3,
7-6(7-3)
5. Tshema Nash (E) def. Caroline Capute (W) – 6-1, 6-3
6. Sara Vrabec (E) def. Ashley Parsons (W) – 6-1, 6-4
Exhibition:
7. Nancy Worley (W) def. Amanda Wickman (E) – 8-3
