Three Ephs Doubles Pairs Advance to NEWITT Semifinals

AMHERST, MA - Participating in the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament this weekend, the Ephs advanced all three doubles pairs competing to the semifinals. All of the Eph duos were seeded first or second, giving them first-round byes.

Williams coach Alison Swain was pleased with her teams performance, noting, "Despite having to play at multiple sites and move from outdoors to indoor courts due to rain, the girls played very solid doubles all the way around.  Even though we weren't pushed with really tough matches today, the team demonstrated improvement from our dual matches a few weeks ago."

In the flight one round of 16, Cary Gibson and Grace Baljon topped Yudelevich and Currier of Simmons, 8-2. Gibson and Baljon, seeded second, went on to top Driscoll and Williams of Trinity 8-2 in the quarterfinals.

The senior duo of Allie Rottkamp and Annie Schneidman, seeded first in flight two, blanked Carrell and DelBonis of Salve Regina in the round of 16. The Eph captains then topped Meckler and Merns of Trinity, 8-2.

Competing in flight three for Williams, the first-year tandem of Lucy Marchese and Nikki Reich found similar success. The second seeded pair shut out Gulliver and Kano-Bower of Bates in the round of 16, before topping Leben and Steckloff of Trinity, 8-2. The Eph success places all three pairs in the semifinals.

All six Eph singles players received first round byes. Due to rain, only the round of 32 was completed, so the Ephs have yet to see singles action.

"Across the board, all three doubles teams are playing smarter doubles and feeling confident being more aggressive," said Swain. "It is great to see, and the team is looking forward to carrying the momentum from today into their first singles matches and the doubles semifinals tomorrow."