All Ephs Doubles Advance to NEWITT Finals

AMHERST, MA - Each of the Ephs doubles pairs advanced to the flight finals of the New England Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament this afternoon, held at Amherst College. In singles play, five of six Ephs advanced to the semifinals of their respective draws.

 "The team had a great day today from a competitive standpoint," said Williams coach Alison Swain. "We began the day indoors with the doubles semifinal and had some big wins against Tufts and Wellesley. Both Tufts and Wellesely have very strong doubles line ups, so it was important for us to play well.  All three of the doubles teams were very solid today and able to generate many opportunities for themselves by closing the net and playing aggressively."

Playing in flight one, Cary Gibson and Grace Baljon topped a pair from Tufts 8-6. Seniors Allie Rottkamp and Annie Scheidman topped Devine and Walther of Wellesley 8-1 in flight two, and in flight three Eph first-years Lucy Marchese and Nikki Reich topped Miller and Homma of Tufts by the same score. The finals will be played tomorrow morning.

Given byes due to seeding, all the Williams singles players saw their tourneys begin in the round of 16. Sophomore Baljon had an impressive showing in flight two. The top-seeded Eph defeated Ribchinsky of Roger Williams and Currier of Simmons, both in straight sets without allowing either opponent a point. The wins put Baljon in the semifinals tomorrow.

Equally impressive were Ephs Marchese and Reich, playing in flights three and four, respectively. Both of the Williams frosh took decisive straight set victories in the round of 16 and the quarterfinals, earning berths in their respective semifinals. Williams also placed into the semifinals in flights five and six, as Ashley Parsons and Annie Schneidman both breezed through the round of 16 and the quarterfinals handily.

The only Eph defeat came in flight one. After topping Biffinger of Regis, Cary Gibson fell too Cascarilla of Tufts.

"Singles play was outdoors today and the team competed well in our first two rounds of matches," said Swain. The Williams coach is excited to have 5 players in the semifinals tomorrow. "I expect the competition to be tough tomorrow in both doubles and singles," she said, "but I think everyone is ready to play well and hopefully move deeper into their draws."