Ephs Top No. 5 CMS 7-2 in Fab Five Tourney

ATLANTA, GA -- Williams (6-0) downed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) (10-2) 7-2 in the Fab Five Tournament being hosted by Emory University.

The CMS Athenas entered today's match ranked 5th nationally and having won their last nine matches in a row. CMS' nine-match win streak included a 7-2 win over Bowdoin and 6-3 win over Amherst and the Athenas looking to make the Ephs their third straight NESCAC conquest.

The Athenas entered the match at 10-1 (undefeated in DIII play) with their lone prior loss coming at the hands of DII UC San Diego, 5-4.

Williams entered today's match riding a 31-dual match win streak that began with the last match in 2014 and extended through an unbeaten 2015 campaign. Williams has now won 32 consecutive dual matches.

Today the Ephs fashioned a 2-1 lead after doubles play and then won five of six singles matches to register the 7-2 win.

At number two doubles the Eph tandem of Julia Cancio and Hannah Atkinson turned a 2-1 lead over Kyla Scott and Jessie Cruz into an 8-1 victory to put the Ephs up 1-0.

CMS tied the match at one all when their number one duo of Caroline Ward and Katie Kuosman defeated the Eph team of Juli Raventos and Linda Shin, 8-5. Ward/Kuosman opened up a 3-0 lead in the match and the Ephs were unable to overcome that early deficit.

The Ephs' three doubles pairing of captain Maya Hart and Mia Gancayco gave the Ephs a 2-1 lead in the match when they went up 2-1, 4-2 and 6-3 before claiming an 8-5 win over Lindsay Brown and Bria Smith.

"Taking a 2-1 lead in doubles was huge for us today," said Eph head coach Alison Swain.

In singles play two of the matches went three sets and the Ephs captured both of those matches with Hannah Atkinson winning at #3 by claiming the first and third sets by the score of 6-3 and dropping the second set 6-1. At #6 Leah Bush lost her first set 6-4, but bounced back with 6-1 wins in sets two and three to take the decision.

Mia Gancayco at #2 won in straight sets, but both wins were battles and the score in each set was 7-5. Gancayco's win gave the Ephs the fifth and deciding point in the match.

At the top of the ladder the Ephs' Julia Raventos won in straight sets with identical 6-3 wins.

CMS' lone singles win came at #5 where Jessie Crus downed Alex Stone 6-3, 6-4.

"Today was a great win against avery strong CMS team," noted Swain. "They are all great competitors and pushed us through the last point in every match."

The Ephs return to action tomorrow when they will play two matches. At 9:30 a.m. they will travel to Georgia Gwinnett College and then at 3:00 p.m. they will return to Emory University to play Trinity (TX) in a Fab Five match.

Order of Finish
Doubles: 2, 1, 3
Singles:  4, 5, 1, 2, 6, 3, 1