SWARTHMORE, Pa. – A valiant effort from the Haverford College women's tennis team came up just short against rival Swarthmore. The Fords won each of the top three singles matches, but the early doubles deficit proved too much to overcome against the Garnet who came into the match ranked 13th in the ITA regional rankings.
The Garnet got off to the quick start with a very strong showing in doubles. Haverford was able to collect three games in each of the top two matches, but both pairs ultimately fell by the same 8-3 score.
In singles play, Haverford controlled the top of the lineup with wins from Robyn Himelstein, Greta Koch, and Abby Payson. Himelstein and Koch each used 10-point tiebreaks to win their respective matches. Playing No. 1 singles, Himelstein won her first set by a 6-3 score, but fell by a 7-5 margin in the second. She edged out her opponent by a 10-8 score in the tiebreak for her team-leading 12th victory of the season in singles. Himelstein is now 5-4 during conference matches in the top position.
Koch also jumped in front of her opponent at No. 2 singles with a 6-3 win in the first set. Her match followed a similar pattern to Himelstein as she dropped the second set but rebounded with a 10-8 victory in the tiebreak. Koch now has nine wins on the season and is 3-2 against conference competition in singles.
Payson clinched Haverford's lone straight set victory of the night playing No. 3 singles. However, she needed to pull through in a pair of tightly-contested sets to do so. The Fords' co-captain evenly split the first 12 games of her opening set before winning the tiebreak with a 7-3 advantage. She finished off her sixth win of the season with a 6-4 second set in her favor.
Just like Haverford controlled the top of the lineup, Swarthmore controlled the bottom half. The Fords' best chances to take a set came from Courtney Ahmed and Caroline Steliotes in the fourth and fifth singles positions. Both were edged out by 6-4 scores during one of their sets. Stephany Prodromos collected three games during her match at No. 6 singles.
Women's tennis will now conclude its spring season at home against Gettysburg. Saturday's match is scheduled to get underway at 12 p.m. Prior to the match, the team will honor Robyn Himelstein during its Senior Day.