AMHERST, MA — The Williams College women's tennis team put their 25-match win streak on the line as they faced off against the Lord Jeffs of Amherst College, who were the last people to beat the Ephs in this very same dual last year. The Lord Jeffs managed to repeat their accomplishment as they defeated the reigning six-time national champions 7-2, handing the Ephs their first loss of the season. The Ephs' record moves to 16-1 (NESCAC 5-1) on the year, as the Lord Jeffs' record goes to 15-3 (NESCAC 7-0).
Amherst struck an early and what would be a decisive blow to the Ephs, as they swept all three doubles points, cleaning up on all three courts and pulling out two close matches. The senior Lord Jeff pairing of Jordan Brewer and Gabby Devlin got the Lord Jeffs off on the right foot, as they defeated Eph senior Kara Shoemaker and junior Rebecca Curran by a margin of 8-4 at one-doubles. At the number three position, the Eph combination of freshman Linda Shin and sophomore Alex Stone managed to keep their match with the Lord Jeff duo of junior Safi Aly and sophomore Sarah Monteagudo close, but they unfortunately fell just short by an 8-6 scoreline. Court two went more or less the same way as the veteran Lord Jeff senior combination of Zoe Pangalos and Jen Newman managed to barely outplay Eph senior Kathleen Elkins and sophomore Maria Pylypiv, edging the match by the fine margin of 9-7, putting the Ephs into what would prove to be an insurmountable hole.
The Lord Jeffs picked up right where they had left off when the singles portion got underway, as Devlin dismissed Elkins 6-2, 6-0 at two-singles to give the Lord Jeffs a 4-0 advantage and to leave them only needing one more point to clinch the match.
The Ephs did not give up, however, as Shoemaker refused to allow the Ephs to be blanked by their arch-rivals. In her match at the number one position, she played a close first set with Brewer, pulling it out 6-4, before she cruised to an easy 6-0 second set, nabbing the Ephs' first point of the day. In similar fashion at the five-singles, Curran eased past Pangalos without too much difficulty 6-3, 6-2, bringing the scoreline to 4-2 and pulling the Ephs to within two points of Amherst.
Any chance of a comeback was quickly squashed by the Lord Jeffs however, as sophomore Sue Ghosh clinched the match for the Lord Jeffs by seeing off Pylypiv in a close, straight-sets match 6-4, 6-3, rendering the other two matches a moot point. Both Shin and Eph junior Monica Pastor went down in third sets to their opponents at the three and six positions respectively. Shin managed to fight back after losing her first 6-2 to take the second set 6-4; however, she couldn't complete the comeback as she went down 6-4 in the deciding set to Newman. To polish off the match for the Lord Jeffs, Monteagudo edged Pastor in a third-set match tiebreaker (in lieu of the full third set since the match was clinched already) 10-5, after exchanging a pair of 6-4 sets.
After the match, Eph head coach Alison Swain praised Amherst's performance in the match: "Amherst played very strong tennis today and took advantage of opportunities in doubles early on. Losses are always disappointing, even more so in rivalry matches like this one, but we will use this to help us focus on ways to improve in the next couple weeks."
The Ephs now have a week off before they return to action next Saturday away against Bowdoin. The match is set to start at 10 AM EDT.
Amherst 7, Williams 2
- Shoemaker, Kara (WILLIAMS) def. Brewer, Jordan (AMHERST) 6-4, 6-0
- Devlin, Gabby (AMHERST) def. Elkins, Kathleen (WILLIAMS) 6-2, 6-0
- Newman, Jen (AMHERST) def. Shin, Linda (WILLIAMS) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
- Ghosh, Sue (AMHERST) def. Pylypiv, Maria (WILLIAMS) 6-4, 6-3
- Curran, Rebecca (WILLIAMS) def. Pangalos, Zoe (AMHERST) 6-3, 6-2
- Monteagudo, Sarah (AMHERST) def. Pastor, Monica (WILLIAMS) 4-6, 6-4, 10-5
- Brewer, Jordan/Devlin, Gabby (AMHERST) def. Shoemaker, Kara/Curran, Rebecca (WILLIAMS) 8-4
- Pangalos, Zoe/Newman, Jen (AMHERST) def. Elkins, Kathleen/Pylypiv, Maria (WILLIAMS) 9-7
- Aly, Safi/Monteagudo, Sarah (AMHERST) def. Shin, Linda/Stone, Alex (WILLIAMS) 8-6
Match Notes:
Williams 16-1 (NESCAC 5-1), nationally ranked #1
Amherst 15-3 (NESCAC 7-0), nationally ranked #4
