HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College women's tennis team wrapped up a spot in the Centennial Conference tournament with a 7-2 home victory over visiting Washington College on Wednesday afternoon. The win improved Haverford's record to 9-7 overall and 6-2 in the CC, while Washington College fell to 6-8 overall and 4-4 in the CC.
Haverford will be making its fifth consecutive CC tournament appearance and the Fords have qualified for the CC tournament a total of 12 times during the 13 past editions of the postseason tournament.
The match on Wednesday began with doubles play, and Haverford managed to take a 2-1 lead after doubles. Sriya Krishnan and Mimi Lavin teamed up to defeat Katie Ruppert and Isabella Sorhegui in a hard-fought match, 8-6.
In a thrilling match that went to a tiebreaker, Abhishree Menon and Summer Williams emerged victorious over Soleil Namunyola and Piper Sartison, 8-7 (7-4). However, the pairing of Bin Nguyen and Eva Kading of Washington College managed to defeat Rachael Fitzgerald and Abbey Russano of Haverford in another close match at the top flight after prevailing in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (8-6). Moving on to singles play, Haverford continued its dominance by winning five out of six matches. Ellie Esterowitz, reigning CC Women's Tennis Player of the Week, defeated Soleil Namunyola in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.
Russano won her singles match against Eva Kading with a score of 6-2, 6-2. Lavin also got the win in straight sets against Nguyen, 6-3, 6-1, in what proved to be the clincher for the Fords on a clear but chilly Tuesday.
Annie Barrett stepped into the lineup and secured a win against Katie Ruppert, prevailing with a score of 6-3, 6-3. However, Piper Sartison managed to win a hard-fought match against Fitzgerald, 2-6, 7-6 (7-6), 1-0 (13-11) as she outlasted Fitzgerald in a marathon superbreaker.
Abhishree Menon wrapped up the day with a victory against Isabella Sorhegui, with a score of 7-5, 6-3.
Haverford now wraps up regular season action on Saturday against Dickinson on Senior Day. Time of the match is slated for 11 a.m. on the Haverford campus.