ORLANDO, Fla. - Matching up with North Carolina Wesleyan (0-2) on Thursday morning at the Lake Cane Tennis Center in Orlando, the Haverford women's tennis team (2-2) looked strong in both doubles and singles play to deliver a resounding 7-2 win over the Bishops on the penultimate match day in Central Florida.
Out of the gates, the doubles pairing of Ellie Esterowitz and Mimi Lavin did well to take down Julie Schoorsmans and Elisa Mariotti of the Bishops, breezing past the duo for an 8-1 decision. The first flight doubles pairing of Abbey Russano and Rachael Fitzgerald also outlasted a test from Andrea Elaez Miranda and Kristal Dule, winning a back-and-forth battle by a final of 8-6.
The third doubles pairing of Abhishree Menon and Summer Williams was upended by Bethan Fothergill and Cristina Mendoza Romero, falling by an 8-6 decision as the Fords headed into singles action up by a score of 2-1.
Lavin faced Mendoza Romero at the third flight to begin singles, taking a 6-2, 6-0 sweep for another tally in the Haverford column. Summer Williams got a bit of revenge from her doubles loss, reversing that decision in singles, taking down Fothergill by a 6-4, 6-1 final at the fifth flight. Esterowitz outlasted Mariotti in three sets, taking the opener and the third set in convincing 6-0 fashion but dropping the middle game 6-4.
The bounce-back third-set victory from Esterowitz clinched the match for the Fords. Russano then registered a key victory at the top flight, eclipsing the nation's No. 44 ranked singles player, Dule, by a 6-4, 6-3 final. Fitzgerald was defeated 6-4, 7-5 by Elaez Miranda, also reversing the doubles matchup for the Bishops at number four, but Erika Phanord put a final tally in Haverford's column with her 7-5, 7-5 triumph over Schoorsmans at the sixth flight.
Last season, Haverford also grabbed a win over the Battling Bishops on the spring break trip in Florida, but improved on that result in 2023, turning a 6-3 triumph into a 7-2 win this season.
The Fords now return to action on Friday with a matchup against another formidable test in 11th-ranked Carnegie Mellon. The contest at the USTA National Campus is slated to begin at 8 a.m.