Brunswick, ME- The Ephs battled the Bowdoin Polar Bears this afternoon in their last match of the regular season. Due to unforeseen rain, the match was played at a local indoor facility.
In doubles, the Ephs faced 3 seasoned teams, all of which have found great success this season. At #2 doubles,
Ahn Lin and
Mia Thomann struggled to find their rhythm and lost a few crucial deuce points at the beginning of the set to go down 5-0. They continued to fight, but ultimately fell 8-2. At #3 doubles,
Jane Ladaga and
Annabelle Siegel were locked in a battle going back and forth with their opponents. Despite powerful serves and stunning net play, they too fell 8-6. With the Ephs already down 2-0, #1 doubles became a crucial point.
Yuu Ishikawa and
Erica Ekstrand went down 6-5, but had no doubts in their ability to win, as they stormed back to take the next 3 games and win 8-6. This put the Ephs on the board.
Despite this win, the Ephs were down 2-1 going into singles. After a quick pep talk, they reset quickly and came out firing in singles.
Mia Thomann played a hard hitting opponent at #5 singles. Although she lost the first set 6-2, she made adjustments and made the second set more competitive. Despite fighting, she ultimately lost the second 6-3.
Margaux Molyneux finished off her opponent shortly after to put another point on the board for the Ephs. She used a combination of power and consistency to hit many winners, as well as force many errors by her opponent. Molyneux won 6-0, 6-2.
Erica Ekstrand played phenomenal tennis at #1 singles. Ekstrand started many points on defense, but committed to aggressive play to win 6-2, 6-3.
Ananya Aggarwal faced a consistent opponent, much like herself, at #4 singles. Aggarwal was a wall from the baseline, but also took advantage of any weaker balls to finish off the points. Her impressive play was rewarded with a winning score of 6-2, 6-2.
At this point the dual match score was 4-3, and the Ephs needed one more point to secure the team victory.
Annabelle Siegel was in an extremely close match at #3 singles. After scraping out the first set 7-6(3), she was up 4-3 in the second after Aggarwal won.Â
Siegel lost a deuce point to go 5-4. Tensions were high as Siegel went up 40-0 in the final game. Her opponent battled to get it back to deuce, but Siegel was not going to let another match point slip away. With a powerful forehand, Siegel ended the match and secured the victory for the Ephs!
Yuu Ishikawa was still on court at #2 singles when this all went down. After losing a tight first set 7-5, she continued to battle in the second, but unfortunately fell 6-3.
Eph assistant coach
Andrew Dorr commented, "Great win to close out the regular season. Bowdoin is a savvy, well-coached team, and the coaches feel really good about how connected and confident we played in order to get the 5-4 win. Super proud of the women and how well they've come together this year, and I am just excited to keep things rolling heading into the conference tourney next weekend." The Ephs will start post-season play this coming weekend in the NESCAC tournament. The draw has yet to be decided, but will be released tomorrow.
