HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's tennis team controlled the top three matches in both singles and doubles, posting a 6-3 victory against visiting Ursinus on Wednesday afternoon. The Fords (10-2, 3-1 CC) earned all six of their points with a perfect record in the top three ranked matches against the Bears (8-3, 0-2 CC).
Haverford has now won 10 or more team matches for the fifth straight season. The Fords recorded a program-record eight straight 10-plus win seasons during the 1984-91 and 1993-00 campaigns. The Fords are also the first team in the Centennial Conference to reach 10 overall victories this spring.
The hosts cruised to an early lead with a spectacular display in doubles, sweeping all three early points. Jessica Liu and Greta Koch allowed just two games in their return to the middle doubles pairing. The duo improved to 2-1 on the year with their second straight win together. At No. 1 doubles, Caitlin Gallagher and Robyn Himelstein conceded just three games. The Fords' top pairing improved to a team-best 8-4 in doubles with all of those matches coming at No. 1.
Haverford made it a clean sweep of the doubles action when Abby Payson and Kristen Andersen doubled up their opponents at No. 3 by an 8-4 margin. The Fords' No. 3 pairing improved to 2-0 together this spring with their other victory coming at No. 2 doubles.
Moving over to the singles competition, Gallagher, Koch, and Himelstein picked up their second points of the evening with wins in their respective top three singles slots. Gallagher racked up her eighth win this spring as she allowed just three games in the opening set before blanking her opponent for the straight set victory.
Koch and Himelstein each notched their ninth singles wins of the year with their respective wins at No. 2 and No. 3. Koch returned to the lineup in impressive fashion as she tallied a 6-3, 6-2 straight set win. Himelstein gave up just three games total during her 6-2, 6-1 win.
Two of Ursinus' three singles victories came in hard-fought 10-point tiebreak wins. Payson opened No. 4 singles with a 6-2 first set win. After falling in extra games during the second set, 7-5, she was edged by a 10-7 score in the tiebreak. Jia-Ling Tuan was also edged by a 10-7 score in her tiebreak at No. 6 singles. She opened her match with a 6-4 first set victory. Liu (No. 5 singles) forced her opponent to play extra games in her match, but came up on the wrong side of that 7-5 set before falling in the second.
Women's tennis will return to the Bettye Marshall Tennis Courts this Saturday for a meeting with Franklin & Marshall. Saturday's contest will get underway at 12 p.m. and be a rematch of last year's Centennial Conference semifinal.