HAVERFORD, Pa. – After three straight wins to start the conference season, the Haverford College women's tennis team suffered its first setback of the conference slate on Saturday during a battle of unbeaten teams in the conference. The Fords (5-5, 3-1 CC) got wins from Jane Bary and Jessica Liu, but it was not enough to overcome the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats (9-2, 5-0 CC).

Franklin & Marshall got the early jump by sweeping the doubles matches. Greta Koch and Abby Payson battled the No. 25 doubles team in the country and took three games off of their foes in the No. 1 position. Clara Farrehi and Liu won four games at No. 3 doubles while the pairing of Emily Shutman and Jane Bary secured one game in the No. 2 doubles match.

Splitting the six Marshall Tennis Courts with the men, Koch nearly secured the first team point of the afternoon for the Fords as she forced a decisive third set with a 6-4 win during the second set at No. 2 singles. Despite needing extra games in third, the Diplomat won by a 7-5 score. Shutman and Payson also put up strong opposition but fell by identical 6-4, 6-4 scores in their respective first and third singles matches.

In the final matches to hit the courts, Liu started off her straight set win at No. 6 singles with a tiebreak victory. She followed that up with a 6-2 win in the second set to improve to 3-0 in conference singles action and 7-4 overall on the year. Bary capped the evening on a high note for Haverford with a 10-point tiebreak victory at No. 4 singles. She forced the tiebreak with a 7-5 win in the second set and claimed 10 of the 15 tiebreak points to seal her third straight win in conference. Bary is 5-2 overall in singles this spring.

Women's tennis will look to get back to its winning ways with a home match next Wednesday against Ursinus. First serves in that match are slated for 4 p.m. on the Marshall Tennis Courts.