Clinton, NY – The Ephs faced off against the Hamilton Continentals earlier this Sunday afternoon. The match was originally supposed to be played on March 9th, but was rescheduled due to conflicts. Despite this, the Ephs came out ready to play and prevailed with an overall score of 6-1.
The match started off tight in doubles, with the Continentals putting up fights on each court. At #2 doubles,
Mia Roets and
Margaux Molyneux got off to a slow start, going down 3-0. However, they did not let this get their spirits down, with the pair coming back firing to win 6 games straight for a 6-3 win. With #1 and #3 doubles in tight matches, this was a crucial win for the Ephs. At #1 doubles,
Yuu Ishikawa and
Jane Ladaga captured the tiebreaker to take the match 7-6 (2). This secured the Ephs the doubles point.
Ahn Lin and
Mia Thomann followed shortly behind at #3 doubles, winning their match 7-6 (6).
In singles play, the Ephs came out strong. Thomann finished quickly at #3, winning her match 6-2, 6-0 after winning a few crucial deuce points early in the match. Molyneux was next to finish, managing to out hit a very aggressive opponent at #2 to take the match 6-4, 6-1. With the other 4 courts locked in tight battles, first year
Ellie Stark found herself in the position to clinch the match for the Ephs on court #6. After a close first set, she prevailed in the second, winning with a score of 6-3, 6-1.
At #1, Ishikawa managed to take a close match against a tricky opponent 6-4, 6-4, putting the 5th point on the board for the Ephs. Roets was locked in a tough battle at #4, facing a very consistent player. Despite being down for the majority of both sets, Roets stayed confident in her game and found herself victorious with a score of 7-6 (2), 6-4. On court #5, Ladaga was the last to finish. Despite stringing together some beautifully crafted points at net, she fell 6-4, 7-5.
Eph head coach Anik Cepeda commented, "When we choose to compete for each other, we are a really great team and that is exactly what they all did today. Shout out to #2 doubles for putting the pressure on Hamilton by winning 6 straight games and shout out to Ellie for her first college clinch. Looking forward to building on this win next weekend at home."
The Ephs will finish off their regular season NESCAC play next weekend in Williamstown, facing off against Trinity and Wesleyan at 10 AM on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
