Women's Tennis Impresses at ITA Southeast Regional Championships

Ellie Esterowitz

Posted: Sep 24, 2023

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - The Haverford College women's team continued its 2023-24 fall season at the ITA Division III Southeast Regional Championships at the University of Mary Washington, with success in both singles and doubles in the championship brackets on the opening day of competition, with matches moved indoors due to wet weather and high winds.

Singles

Ellie Esterowitz, fresh off an NCAA tournament appearance last spring, was the ninth-seeded player in the women's singles bracket and proved her mettle as she grabbed a 6-0, 6-3 win in her round of 64 win over Eva Taylor of Christopher Newport (6-0, 6-3) to set the tone.

In the round of 32, Esterowitz went ahead 5-3 over Eda Mjekiqi of Swarthmore, who was eventually forced to retire due to illness. Esterowitz will now advance to a Round of 16 matchup with Mary Beth Hurley of Johns Hopkins at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

Emily Oh also prevailed in her Round of 64 matchup with Erica Stutz of Swarthmore. Oh took the first game by a 6-4 final before Stutz prevailed with a 6-4 win over her own. Oh was the winner in the superbreaker, prevailing 10-7 to advance to a late afternoon matchup against Sophia Kim of Johns Hopkins. Kim was the eventual winner in that Round of 32 battle (6-4, 6-0).

Mimi Lavin fell in a superbreaker in her first round matchup against Kiersten Chang of Christopher Newport, taking a 6-4 win in the first set before Chang responded with a 6-3 win and took the superbreaker 10-5. Abbey Russano also fell to Amanda Hagino of Mary Washington in straight sets (6-4, 6-2) while Rachael Fitzgerald was defeated by Izzy Koziol (6-4, 6-0) in straight sets.

Doubles

In championship doubles action, the pairing of Esterowitz and Abbey Russano prevailed 8-4 over a pair of familiar foes in Swarthmore's Stutz and Nathalie Williams. With the victory, the pairing advanced to a Sunday matchup against Alix Dry and Stephanie Untermeyer of Stevens. The matchup in the Round of 16 is slated for 8 a.m. on Sunday.

Elsewhere, the pairing of Emily Oh and Mimi Lavin was dispatched by Raine Weis and Tessa Trate of Christopher Newport, as that third-seeded pairing prevailed by an 8-2 final score.

Doubles play at Mary Washington will continue on Sunday at 8 a.m., followed by the singles Round of 16 at 11 a.m.