WATCH Postmatch interview with head coach
Alison Swain & senior captain Kathleen Elkins
CLAREMONT, CA — The Williams College women's tennis team looked for their third win of the season against the Polar Bears of Bowdoin College on Monday night, as the two teams faced off in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
The Ephs entered Monday having never lost a match to the Polar Bears, and they hoped to notch their 23rd win all-time against the Polar Bears, while extending their NCAA unbeaten streak to 33 games and keeping their goal of a seventh straight NCAA Division III National Championship a possibility. The Ephs' tournament experience and incredible depth proved to be too much for the Polar Bears, as the Ephs raced out to a fast start and never looked back from there, cruising to a clinical 5-0 victory to book themselves a spot in the semifinals to be played Tuesday evening.
The Ephs jumped all over the Polar Bears from the very first point of the match, as they took leads on all three doubles courts that proved to be enough to secure all three of the doubles points, effectively burying the Polar Bears in a deficit that they could not surmount against the six-time defending National Champions. At one-doubles, the Eph combination of senior Kara Shoemaker and junior Rebecca Curran recorded their third victory of the year against the Polar Bear pairing of freshman Joulia Likhanskaia and senior Emma Lewis, this time by the margin of 8-3.
It was more of the same on the other two doubles courts, as the freshman Eph duo of Linda Shin and Hannah Atkinson were next off the court at the number three position, brushing aside with relative ease Polar Bear freshman Pilar Giffenig and sophomore Tiffany Cheng 8-4, before the Polar Bear tandem of freshman Samantha Stalder and senior Kate Winingham put up a solid fight against Eph senior Kathleen Elkins and junior Maria Pylypiv on Court 2 but fell just short of completing their comeback, falling 8-6 to the Ephs to complete the doubles sweep.
The Eph always are tough in singles, especially when they've managed to secure all three doubles points, and today proved to be no different. The Ephs needed only two of the six singles matches to secure a place in the semifinals, and they had no trouble finding the required points. The first point came through Pylypiv at four-singles, as she continued her fine run of form in the tournament against Stalder, easing past her by the margin of 6-1, 6-3, and it wasn't too long after that that Elkins wrapped up the match for the Ephs at three-singles with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Winingham, in what was a matchup of two seniors fighting to keep their college tennis careers alive, with Elkins managing to keep her hopes of a NCAA Championship in all four of her years at Williams alive.
After the match, Eph head coach Alison Swain praised her team's energy throughout the match: "Our energy and excitement on the court tonight was palpable. The team fought equally hard whether they were leading or behind in our matches, and that carried us through in the match today."
The Ephs find themselves only two wins away from their seventh straight NCAA Division III Women's Tennis National Championship, but they now face off against their rivals, Amherst College, who have handed the Ephs their only two losses of the season. The Ephs look to avenge those two losses Tuesday evening, as the match is scheduled to get underway at 6 PM EDT.
Williams 5, Bowdoin 0
- Shoemaker, Kara (WILLIAMS) v. Likhanskaia, Joulia (BOWDOIN) 4-6, 3-0 DNF
- Shin, Linda (WILLIAMS) v. Cheng, Tiffany (BOWDOIN) 6-2, 2-0 DNF
- Elkins, Kathleen (WILLIAMS) def. Winingham, Kate (BOWDOIN) 6-1, 6-2
- Pylypiv, Maria (WILLIAMS) def. Stalder, Samantha (BOWDOIN) 6-1, 6-3
- Curran, Rebecca (WILLIAMS) v. Lewis, Emma (BOWDOIN) 6-1, 3-0 DNF
- Pastor, Monica (WILLIAMS) v. Silitch, Kyra (BOWDOIN) 6-4, 1-0 DNF
- Shoemaker, Kara/Curran, Rebecca (WILLIAMS) def. Likhanskaia, Joulia/Lewis, Emma (BOWDOIN) 8-3
- Elkins, Kathleen/Pylypiv, Maria (WILLIAMS) def. Stalder, Samantha/Winingham, Kate (BOWDOIN) 8-6
- Shin, Linda/Atkinson, Hannah (WILLIAMS) def. Cheng, Tiffany/Giffenig, Pilar (BOWDOIN) 8-4
Match Notes:
Williams 22-2, nationally ranked #3
Bowdoin 16-7, nationally ranked #7
Order of Finish: Doubles (1, 3, 2); Singles (4, 3)
