Ephs top seed in NESCAC Tournament this weekend at Middlebury
Grace Baljon '10
First year head coach Alison Swain's Williams women's tennis
team has secured the top seed in this weekend's three-day NESCAC
Women's Tennis Championship Tournament on the strength of a 15-2
overall record and a 6-0 record in NESCAC play. Swain's Ephs
are currently ranked second nationally.
Williams as the top seed and Amherst, the second seed, both
received first round byes and will not play until Saturday. All
three rounds of the NESCAC Tournament will be played at Middlebury
[VT] College and the championship match is scheduled for Sunday at
9:00 am.
Williams will face the winner of Friday's Bowdoin/Middlebury match
on Saturday at 8:30 am. Fourth-seed Middlebury (10-4, 4-2 NESCAC)
and fifth-seed Bowdoin (11-6, 5-4 NESCAC) played on April 12th with
Middlebury coming away with a 5-4 win.
Williams defeated Middlebury 7-2 earlier in the year and last
weekend downed Bowdoin on the road 6-3.
Junior Cary Gibson and sophomore Grace Baljon hope to help
Williams earn its first NESCAC title since tournament play was
adopted in the spring 2006 and fifth in program history this
weekend. An All-Conference First Team Singles selection in 2007,
Gibson is 17-6 this year in singles play, while Baljon, the 2007
NESCAC Rookie of the Year, holds a remarkable 26-1 record.
"Being at the top of NESCAC at the end of the season is a great
accomplishment, but it is going to take our best competitive effort
over the weekend to prove once again that we deserve to be there,"
said Swain. "There are five top 20 teams in the nation playing in
our conference tournament, so every match from here on out is going
to be a battle."
Amherst will meet the winner of third-seeded Tufts (10-5, 6-1
NESCAC) and sixth-seeded Wesleyan (11-6, 4-3 NESCAC) on Saturday at
11:00 a.m.
2008 NESCAC WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
First Round - Friday, April 25 at Middlebury
No. 5 Bowdoin vs. No. 4 Middlebury - 8:30 a.m.
No. 6 Wesleyan vs. No. 3 Tufts - 11:00 a.m.
Semifinals - Saturday, April 26 at Middlebury
Winner No. 5/No. 4 vs. No. 1 Williams - 8:30 a.m.
Winner No. 6/No. 3 vs. No. 2 Amherst - 11:00 a.m.
Championship - Sunday, April 27 at Middlebury
Semifinal Winners - 9:00 a.m.
