Amherst, MA- The Ephs faced the Wesleyan Cardinals in the NESCAC quarterfinals. The match was played outdoors at host site Amherst Collegethis afternoon. In April, during the regular season, the Ephs lost to the Cardinals 7-2. Despite a valiant effort, the Ephs fell in a close 5-3, showing amazing progress.
Starting in doubles, Yuu Ishikawa and Erica Ekstrand faced a tough pair at #1 doubles, falling 8-3. Ahn Lin and Mia Thomann put up a fight at #2 doubles. Although they quickly went down 4-0, Lin and Thomann changed their strategy and clawed their way back into the match. After saving 5 match points, they fell 8-6. Jane Ladaga and Annabelle Siegel played an amazing match to win 8-7(5) against a previously undefeated team. After going up 6-3, they lost some momentum and the match went to 7-7. Ladaga and Siegel went down 5-2 in the match tiebreaker, but fought back to win 8-6.
Going into singles, the Ephs were down 2-1, but they had hope. Just a few minutes apart from one another Ishikawa, Siegel and Thomann finished on courts #2, #3 and #5. Thomann and Ishikawa both fell in their matches, but many games on both courts were very close. Siegel had an amazing match and fought through nerves to defeat a hard hitting opponent much like herself 6-2, 6-4. At #1 singles, Erica Ekstrand dominated her opponent with her aggressive game style. After winning the first set 6-1, she competed well in a tighter second set to win 6-4.
At this point, Ananya Aggarwal and Margaux Molyneux were the only two matches left on courts #4 and #6. Margaux Molyneux had won her first set against a previously undefeated opponent 6-4 and had just dropped competitive second set 6-4. Even though Molyneux lost the second set, she was off to a roaring start in the third set. Aggarwal dropped her first set 6-4 to a talented freshman, but had managed to get a lead in the second set and found herself up 6-5. After getting broken to go 6-6, Aggarwal quickly fell behind 4-0 in the set tiebreaker. However, she wasn't going to go down without a fight. After scrapping her way back to 4-4, an unfortunate couple of points put the match in favor of the Cardinals. Due to clinch format, this was the end of the dual match.
Coach Anik Cepeda commented, "What a battle. They brought the fire today. Coaches are tremendously proud of all the players. We hope we get a bid into NCAAs so we can have another chance to practice, play, and compete together. To the NCAA committee, let these women IN!!" The Ephs will find out Monday afternoon if they received a bid for the NCAA team tournament and Wednesday afternoon for NCAA individuals. Stay tuned.
