HAVERFORD, Pa.- The No. 31 Haverford women's tennis team (10-6) were defeated by No. 32 Swarthmore (12-5) 5-4 Thursday afternoon, in the Centennial Conference semifinals. The contest was a true classic between the teams at the Bettye Marshall and Norman B. Bramall Tennis Courts on the campus of Haverford College.
The second-seeded Fords got on the scoreboard first in doubles play, as the team of Rachael Fitzgerald and Abhishree Menon prevailed over third-seeded Swarthmore's Spencer Watts and Oviya Kumaran 8-6. The Garnet leveled the score at 1-1, after Swarthmore's Nathalie Williams and Erica Stutz took down the duo of Abbey Russano and Ellie Esterowitz 8-5. In the third and final doubles match, the Garnet's pairing of Kathleen Shiffer and Lola Diaz got past Mimi Lavin and Emily Oh 8-7 (7-3 tiebreaker), to go up 2-1 in the match entering singles.
Russano knotted the match up at 2-2 to begin singles play, as the senior dispelled Diaz 6-1, 6-3 in the top flight. However, Swarthmore then gained two straight match wins, as Lara Geib defeated Menon 6-4. 6-0 in flight six, and Jenny Lewis later secured a 6-2, 6-3, victory over Fitzgerald in the fourth flight, to give the visitors a 4-2.
The Scarlet and Black however, battled back, as victories from Oh (defeated Kumaran 7-6 (8-6 tiebreaker) in the fifth flight and Lavin (defeated 6-1, 7-6 (7-1 tiebreaker) in flight three, evened the match at 4-4.
The decisive fifth point came down to a showdown on court two between Esterowitz and Shiffer. Esterowitz got the better of Shiffer in set one winning 6-2, before Shiffer claimed a hard-fought set two, sneaking past Esterowitz 7-6 (7-4 tiebreaker). After countless rallies and back-and-forth points, Shiffer earned a 6-3 set-three victory over Esterowitz, to give Swarthmore a 5-4 win over Haverford.
After a tremendous fight against the Garnet, the 2024 women's tennis dual match season has ended. The Fords will now keep their eyes on next week's selections to the NCAA Championships, as the team of Abbey Russano and Ellie Esterowitz figure to have a good shot at representing the Fords at the NCAA Championships in Saint Louis, as the duo is the top-ranked pairing in Region III.