Williams Advances to NESCAC Finals

LEWISTON, ME – The top-seeded Williams Ephs began the NESCAC Tournament with a win on Saturday, overcoming fifth seeded Wesleyan in five matches. Wesleyan was coming off a win over fourth seeded Bowdoin College on Friday. Bowdoin was responsible for the Ephs only conference loss this season.

This is the fifth time the Ephs are the NESCACS top seed.

"We played with a lot of energy, focus, and determination from the start of the match today," said head coach Alison Swain.

Doubles got the day started, going 3-0 in close matches. Juli Raventos '18 and Linda Shin '17 finished first by a score of 8-5. Maya Hart '16 and Giulia McDonnel Nieto del Rio '18 followed with an 8-6 victory, before Julia Cancio '18 and Hannah Atkinson '17 finished the sweep with a 9-8(7) win.

"When doubles were close, we stayed composed and trusted our game plan and that made a big difference in the end," said Swain.

Going into singles up 3-0, the Ephs needed just two wins to clinch. Leah Bush '19 supplied the first one, overcoming Wesleyan's sophomore Dasha Dubinsky 6-1, 6-0. Shin clinched the day with a 6-3, 6-1 victory. Mia Gancayco '18, Raventos, Cancio, and Atkinson all began singles matches that did not finish.

The 5-0 victory means that the Ephs will be returning to the NESCAC Finals on Sunday, May 8^th, something Swain says her team is "very excited" to do. They will play the winner of Saturday's match between second seeded Middlebury and third seeded Amherst. Amherst overcame sixth seeded Tufts on Friday. Last year, when Williams and Amherst met in the finals it was the 10^th consecutive time the two teams met in the NESCAC Championship.