Williamstown, Ma - On a sunny day in Williamstown, the Ephs of Williams College ranked #1 nationally took on arch rival Amherst College ranked #3.
Williams prevailed 8-1 with Amherst's lone win coming at number one doubles when the Lord Jeff tandem of junior Sue Gosh (A) and freshman Vickie Ip (A) topped the Eph pairing of senior Maria Pylypiv and freshman Julia Cancio, 8-3.
Both teams entered having last lost to each other. A year ago the Ephs were defeated in the NCAA Semifinals on May 20 by Amherst 5-4, but won the third place match versus Johns Hopkins and had won 13 matches this season to construct a 14-match win streak, that included wins over four nationally ranked Division III teams in Virginia and Division I James Madison on their spring break trip. The Eph win streak has now grown to 15 and they are 14-0 this year.
Seven of the Eph wins this season have come over teams ranked in the top ten nationally.
Amherst's last loss came in Amherst when they fell to Williams 5-4 back on October 11. Amherst entered today's match with a 10-match win streak. With the loss Amherst falls to 10-2 on the year.
The Ephs bounced back impressively from the loss at one doubles, taking the rest of the doubles matches despite trailing in both matches early.
Sophomore Linda Shin and freshman Juli Raventos evened the match at one all when they won over Amherst's Jacqueline Calia and Maddy Sung 8-4 at two doubles.
Three doubles went to a tie-breaker before the Eph duo of senior Rebecca Curran and junior Maya Hart were able to defeat the Amherst pairing of Sarah Monteagudo and Safi Aly 9-8 (4).
Owning a 2-1 lead heading into singles the Ephs then proceeded to win all six matches in straight sets. Eph head coach Alison Swain today utilized a vastly different lineup than she had used in October, partly becuase of a season-ending injury to freshman Giulia McDonnell Nieto Del Rio early this semester and the return of Maya Hart who had studeid in Spain in the fall semester.
Since the October win in Amherst Swain has tweaked her lineup and it now features senior Maria Pylypiv up from #3 singles to #1 and Swain also moved sophomore Linda Shin from #1 to Pylypiv's #3.
Rebecca Curran has moved up from #5 singles to #4 singles with freshman Julia Cancio taking over #5. At #6 singles now is freshman Mia Gancayco.
The Eph doubles lineup was also altered. Pylypiv remains at number one doubles but instead of being paired with Curran she now teams with Cancio. Juli Raventos remains at two doubles, but is now playing with Linda Shin. The number three doubles pairing for the Ephs has Rebecca Curran and Maya Hart teaming up.
The spring lineup was impressive in singles today as Gancayco (W), Curran (W), Pylypiv (W) led off for the Ephs, all coming out on top. Julia Cancio defeated her Megan Adamo, 6-4, 6-3 - lifting the home team to a 6-1 lead. Linda Shin (W) moved past sophomore Jacqueline Calia, in two sets (6-4, 6-2). Raventos (W) finished for Williams, continuing the Ephs momentum with a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
"Today's win was a big one against a big rival," noted Swain. "We played Amherst in the fall and beat them 5-4. Today, this 8-1 win was the result of the hard work, determination, and heart of our entire team. This group takes advantage of every practice and every match as an opportunity to be pushed and improve. That improvement was well demonstrated on court today."
The Ephs will next see action tomorrow when they host conference foe Tufts at 11 a.m. and non-conference Babson at 3:00 p.m.
Williams 8, Amherst 1
Doubles
1. Ip/Goush (A) def. Pylypiv/Cancio (W) 8-3
2. Shin/Raventos (W) def. Calia/Sung (A) 8-4
3. Hart/Curran (W) def. Monteagudo/Aly (A) 9-8 (3)
Singles
1. Pylypiv (W) def. Ip (A) 6-4, 6-2
2. Raventos (W) def. Goush (A) 6-4, 6-4
3. Shin (W) def. Calia (W) 6-4, 6-2
4. Curran (W) def. Monteagudo (A) 6-1. 6-2
5. Cancio (W) def. Adamo (A) 6-4, 6-3
6. Gancayco (W) def. Carpenter (A) 6-2, 6-0
