KALAMAZOO, MI. — Emory University won four of six singles matches Wednesday to deny the Williams College women's tennis team a second straight national championship via a 5-4 decision on Stowe Courts.
Williams had its 10-match winning streak end with the championship match defeat and finished with a 22-4 record. Emory, which won its seventh national championship, finished 28-5 overall. It was the Eagles first win over the Ephs in a national title match on five tries.
The Ephs led 2-1 after doubles and did not trail in the match until Emory's Michelle Satterfield completed a 6-2, 6-3 win over Mia Gancayco at second singles to provide the difference in the 5-4 final score.
"I know our team is a little disappointed right now, but they accomplished so much this season and making it this far in the tournament truly deserves to be celebrated," Ephs' head coach Alison Swain said. "They put everything out on the court today and fought as a team and that's what it is all about for us."
The Ephs took a quick 2-0 lead in the match when the first doubles tandem of Juli Raventos and Lind Shin dispatched Anna Fuhr and Madison Gordon, 8-2. Raventos and Shin led 2-1 before winning five straight games to take command.
At second doubles, Hannah Atkinson and Julia Cancio jumped out to a 5-0 lead on Bridget Harding and Katarina Su en route to an 8-3 win that puy Williams up 2-0. Williams third doubles team of Maya Hart and Gulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio built a 4-2 lead in their match against Paula Castro and Michelle Satterfield, but the Eagles pair rebounded to win five consecutive games to build a 7-4 lead. Hart and McDonnell Nieto del Rio halted that streak by taking game 12 to make it 7-5, but Emory's duo closed out an 8-5 victory minutes later.
"I'm really proud of the team for how much improvement they showed this year and I think that showed in our match today against Emory," Swain said. "We came out with a lot of fire in the doubles and played as a team. We really fought hard to come out ahead, 2-1."
Singles play started off well for Williams as well as the Ephs took early leads in five of the six first sets. However, the tide turned quickly. At four singles, Castro and Cancio were tied 3-3 in the first set before Emory's Castro won the final three games to win 6-3. Shen followed with a 6-1 second set victory to tie the match 2-2.
The Ephs Linda Shin was on the same ind of roll at third singles. She opened by taking the first four games of the first set en route to a 6-1 victory over Beatrice Rosen, then finished off her match with a 6-0 second set victory to give the Ephs a 3-2 lead.
At six singles, Su was down 1-0 to Eph Leah Bush in the first set before reeling off four straight games. She took the first set 6-2 and took a 1-0 lead in the second set before Bush won a game to tie things up. But Su proved too syrong on this day and took the second set 6-2 to tie the match, 3-3.
Williams regained the lead ocne again as Raventos dominated her match against Harding at one singles. She led 4-0 in the first set before winning 6-1 and then took the final four games of the second set to finish off a 6-1, 6-2 victory that had the Ephs in the brnk of their 10th national title via a 4-3 lead.
However, by the time Raventos finished Emory had a decent hold on the final two matches and a Williams comeback was needed.
At five singles. Atkinson faced off against Gordon and led 2-0 and 5-3 in the first set before Gordon won the final four games to win 7-5. Gordon then extended that win streak to 10 consecutive games by taking the second set 6-0 and tying the match 4-4.
So that left two singles, where Williams' Gancayco was facing Emory's Satterfield. The first set was tied 2-2 when Satterfield took control, winning the final four games for a 6-2 victory. The pair also split the first four games of the second set. Satterfield tooka brief 3-2 lead before Gancayco fought back, tying the set 3-3 and giving the Ephs hope. However Satterfield won a hard-fought seventh game to go up 4-3 and then won the next two games to close out her match and give Emory the national title.
Emory 5, Williams 4
Doubles: Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
1 - Juli Raventos/Linda Shin (W) def. Anna Fuhr/Madison Gordon (E) – 8-2
2 - Julia Cancio/Hannah Atkinson (W) def. Paula Castro/Michelle Satterfield (E) – 8-3
3 - Bridget Harding/Katarina Su (E) def. Maya Hart/Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio (W) - 8-5
Singles: Order of Finish: 4, 3, 6, 1, 5, 2
1- Julia Raventos (W) defeated Bridget Hading (E) – 6-1, 6-2
2 - Michelle Satterfield (E) defeated Mia Gancayco (W) – 6-2, 6-3
3 - Linda Shin (W) defeated Beatrice Rosen (E) – 6-1, 6-0
4 - Paula Castro defeated Julia Cancio (W) - 6-3, 6-1
5 - Madison Gordon (E) defeated Hannah Atkinson (W) – 7-5, 6-0
6 - Katarina Su (E) defeated Leah Bush (W) -- 6-2, 6-2
