HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's tennis team was predicted for a third-place finish in the Centennial Conference preseason poll. The Fords garnered 75 points in the voting among the conference's head coaches. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams.
Johns Hopkins was a unanimous choice to defend its Centennial Conference title. Swarthmore received the other first place vote and finished second in the preseason poll with 91 points. The Fords and rival Garnet have met in the CC semifinals during each of the past two years. The Garnet advanced from that match last spring after Haverford appeared in the championship during the 2018 season. Franklin & Marshall (72 points) and Washington College (66 points) rounded out the top five teams in the poll.
All-Centennial Conference performers Emily Shutman and Clara Farrehi both return to captain the Fords this coming season. Shutman was a first-team All-CC performer in singles last spring in addition to garnering second-team accolades with Farrehi in doubles. Farrehi was additionally named the Centennial Conference's Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2019. Overall, Haverford returns its top five singles players from last year's lineup. In addition to Shutman (No. 1 singles last year) and Farrehi (No. 3 singles last year), Natalie Williams (No. 2), Claire Johnson (No. 4), and Ananya Prakash (No. 5) return to an experienced lineup. Williams and Prakash also teamed up at No. 2 doubles for the Fords a season ago.
Women's tennis has made the Centennial Conference Tournament during each of the past three seasons and 10 of the last 11 overall. The Fords went 8-8 overall (8-2 CC) last year to place third in the Centennial Conference with their only defeats all year coming against nationally-ranked teams.
Haverford opens the 2020 spring season with its earliest calendar start in program history as the Fords travel to No. 40 TCNJ this coming Sunday, February 16 for a 12 p.m. match. Centennial Conference regular season action begins for the Fords on March 21 at Gettysburg while the CC Tournament is slated to open with the first round match on April 29. The semifinals and championship will be played on May 2 and 3.