Bennington, VT - The #19 Ephs faced off against the #4 Wesleyan Cardinals at home on senior day. While the Ephs fell 6-1, the match lasted long as each court battled hard.
In doubles, the Ephs came out strong, with each court trading games with the Cardinals. At #2 doubles, Ahn Lin and Mia Thomann played some of their best doubles as a pair. After 3-3, the two ran away with the match, taking it with a score of 6-3 against the #8 ranked team in the country. The freshman duo of Mia Roets and Ellie Stark dropped their match 6-3 against a fiery duo. Jane Ladaga and Yuu Ishikawa came out on the wrong side of many deuce games, losing very narrowly at #1 doubles 6-4.
Moving into singles play, lines #1, 2, and 3 were the first matches to go on. At #3 singles, Roets was locked in a battle in the first set against a very seasoned opponent. While she fell 6-3, 6-1, she fought the entire time. Thomann, at #2, lost 6-3, 6-3 to a tough player. Ishikawa also fell on #1, losing 6-3, 6-1 to the #2 ranked player in the country. After this, the match was clinched in favor of the Cardinals.
Despite the match being clinched, lines #4, 5, and 6 went on ready to keep the battle going. At #6, Stark lost the first set 6-1, but made adjustments to make the second set a close one, falling 6-3. Lin played brilliantly at #4 to take her match 6-3, 6-2, putting a point on the board for the Ephs. At #5, Ladaga played a very tight first set. With a marathon tiebreaker, she fell 12-10. While Ladaga ultimately fell in her match, she put up quite the fight.
Eph head coach Anik Cepeda commented on the match, "We played them tough. It was a great atmosphere—we had a chance to take the doubles point and came up a little short. Then we battled hard in the singles and had some long matches. Post season is when we piece it all together as a group. Looking forward to training this week and competing in the NESCAC tournament on Friday!"
This match concludes the Ephs regular season. They will find out who they face in the NESCAC championships tomorrow and will head to either Wesleyan or Amherst for quarterfinals on Friday.
