Middletown, CT- The Ephs faced the Tufts Jumbos in the NESCAC quarterfinals. The match was played outdoors at Wesleyan earlier this afternoon. In March, during the regular season, the Ephs beat the Jumbos 5-4. The Ephs knew it would be a competitive match, but were able to secure their first post-season win 5-2.
Starting in doubles, Jane Ladaga and Annabelle Siegel put the first point on the board at #3 doubles. After getting off to a strong 3-0 lead, the pair continued to play aggressively and won 8-2. Ahn Lin and Mia Thomann dropped their match at #2 doubles 4-8, despite many of the games going to deuce. Erica Ekstrand and Yuu Ishikawa won a crucial match at #1 doubles 8-4. With a first-poach mentality, the two worked through their nerves and played their aggressive games.
The Ephs were up 2-1 heading into singles. The match was being played to clinch, so only 3 more wins were needed to finish it off. Ananya Aggarwal flew to a 6-1, 6-0 victory today at #4 with a flawless performance. Her depth and consistency rendered her opponent frustrated, making it extremely difficult to even win a point. Thomann had a tough loss today at #5 falling 0-6, 1-6. Ishikawa stayed very patient at #2 singles and managed to force errors out of a solid opponent. She won 6-0, 6-3, putting the 4th point on the board.
At this point, the Ephs only needed one more match to secure the dual-match win. Ekstrand stepped up to the plate at #1 singles. Using swingers to counteract her opponent's defensive lobs, she fought through a close first set. Despite her opponent having set points, Ekstrand won the set tiebreaker and ran away with the rest of the match 7-6, 6-1. When Ekstrand finished her match and clinched for the Ephs, Margaux Molyneux was up at #6 singles 6-3, 3-6, 5-4 deuce and Siegel had just split sets 5-7, 7-5. Due to the clinch format, these matches were not finished.
Assistant Coach Andrew Dorr commented, "The women were successful today because they lit a fire from the first point of doubles and kept it going until the clinch. You could feel the heightened sense of urgency flowing through the team on every court as well as on the sidelines. It was a great start to the postseason and we'll need to keep building the fire tomorrow against Wesleyan in the semi-finals." Tomorrow, the Ephs will face the #1 seeded Wesleyan cardinals in the semifinals of the NESCAC tournament. The match will be played at the host site Amherst at 1 PM.
