Cambridge, MA - Sophomore Kristin Alotta extended her winning streak to 29 matches, notching a pair of victories on the second day of competition en route to a berth in the ITA regional semifinals. She will be joined on the final day of competition tomorrow by the doubles team of Grace Baljon ’10 and Taylor French ’12.
Alotta survived the round of 16 after dropping the opening set by sweeping the second set and taking the tiebreak 2-6, 6-0 (10-8). In her quarterfinal match, Alotta edged senior teammate Grace Baljon 6-3, 6-3. Alotta will meet fourth-seeded Brittany Berckes of Amherst tomorrow morning at 9 AM for the right to play for the championship. Alotta’s only career loss came to All-American Cary Gibson ’09 who was the Ephs top player last year. Alotta can secure All-American status by winning the tournament tomorrow.
Baljon set up the all-Eph quarterfinal by defeating Amherst’s Jill Wexler 6-1, 7-5. While Baljon was eliminated from singles play, she will compete in the doubles final tomorrow at 1 PM. French and Baljon topped Leslie Hansen and Anastasia Vishnevetsky of MIT 8-2 in the quarterfinals before beating Mohona Siddique and Jacqueline Shen of Wellesley 8-5 in the semifinals. Head Coach Allison Swain noted that it is the third year in a row that Williams has advanced a doubles team to the finals. Last year, Nikki Reich and Cary Gibson emerged victorious.
Swain was very excited about her team’s performance at the premier tournament of the fall: “It’s awesome! I’m pschyed and thrilled to have someone still playing in the singles draw and have a doubles team in the final.” Swain said that the entire team seemed to be feeding off each other’s success. The tournament should be a springboard to launch into the 2009-10 season: “The tournament should give us a lot of confidence to carry forward. We played tremendously well and there is a lot of good energy on the court.”
First-year Nancy Worley’s tournament came to a heartbreaking end, falling to seventh-seeded Tori Aiello of Middlebury. Worley won the opening set 6-3 but dropped the second set by the same score and was edged 12-10 in the tiebreak. Worley gained valuable experience and showed great promise in her first tournament as a collegiate.
Junior Nikki Reich fell to the third seed Nicole Pontee of Vassar 6-2, 6-1. Reich also suffered a painful doubles loss in the quarterfinals playing alongside Alotta. The pair fell 9-8 (7-1) to top-seeded Julia Browne and Meghan McCooey of Tufts. Browne is also the top seed in the singles draw and could meet Alotta in the finals.
Senior co-captain Ashley Parsons won a pair of matches to advance to the semifinals of the consolation bracket. Parsons moved past Jennifer Ouyang of Amherst who was forced to withdraw due to injury. Parsons then defeated MIT’s Anastasia Vishnevetsky in a dramatic three-set duel 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-0. Parsons will play Brittney Faber of Middlebury tomorrow in the semis.
The Ephs conclude the three-day tournament tomorrow.
Full results can be found on the tournament website.
