Norwich, CT- Despite cold and windy conditions, the Ephs took down the Connecticut College Camels 8-1 this morning.
The Ephs got off to a quick start in doubles. At #1 doubles, Annabelle Siegel used her power at the baseline to set up Jane Ladaga at the net. After some close rallies and beautiful finishing volleys, the pair won 8-4. Yuu Ishikawa and Julia Zhang dominated at #2 doubles with a scoreline of 8-1. Ishikawa's serve proved to be too much for the opponents to handle and the pair capitalized on the short returns. Margaux Molyneux and Ananya Aggarwal ran it back at #3 doubles. Although initially challenged by the conditions today, they managed to swing out on their shots and secured an 8-4 win.
The Ephs were up 3-0 after the doubles and continued to take care of business in singles. The 3 first years on the team played next to each other at #4, #5 and #6. They cheered each other on and all managed to secure wins for the team. Ahn Lin at #6 was the first to finish her match. She was extremely vocal from the start of her match and managed to assert her presence against a more senior opponent to win 6-1, 6,0. Julia Zhang followed shortly after at #5 singles. She scrapped for every ball and used her forehand to move her opponent around the court, winning 6-0, 6-3. Molyneux stayed patient at #4 singles to take down her opponent 6-1, 6-1.
At #3 singles, Ladaga played her game for the entirety of the match. Despite her opponent finding a bit more consistency in the second set, Ladaga raised her level as well to win 6-1, 6-3. Siegel at #2 singles had a slow start to her match. After barely dropping the first set 4-6, Siegel turned it around to quickly win the second 6-0. Unfortunately, the tiebreaker did not go her way with a score of 6-10. Yuu Ishikawa was at #1 singles today. While the points consisted of many long rallies and powerful shots from both sides of the net, Ishikawa ran away with the match 6-1, 6-2.
Eph head coach Anik Cepeda commented, "Good team win today. The coaches are eager to get back on the practice court so we can keep building our team energy, body language, and competitive confidence heading into the match vs Wesleyan." Williams Women's tennis will be back in Connecticut next weekend to play both Wesleyan and Trinity. They will first face No. 4 Wesleyan on Saturday at 2 PM.
