HAVERFORD, Pa. - In a Centennial Conference Playoff First Round contest on Wednesday afternoon, the Haverford College women's tennis team (11-7) defeated visiting Gettysburg (8-7) by a 5-1 final.  Due to inclement weather in the area, the singles competition was moved indoors to Alumni Field House after things started outdoors at the Bramall Courts, with doubles play concluding before the skies opened up and rain forced the venue change.

With the win secured inside the Lutnick Tennis Center, the Fords advance to the semifinals of the Centennial Conference Tournament, where they will take on second-seeded No. 23 Swarthmore on Thursday at 4 p.m. on the Swarthmore campus.

Haverford reprised much of its strong play from the regular season meeting with the Bullets, who were making their postseason appearance as the first-ever six seed in the newly expanded tournament. 

In doubles competition, Ellie Esterowitz and Mimi Lavin defeated Gettysburg's Sarah Guistwite and Gillian Rozenfeld 8-3 at the second spot to open the action, while Abhishree Menon and Summer Williams defeated Emma Ward and Elle Brignati 8-2 at the third doubles spot.  At the first spot, Gettysburg's Andrea Brazyte and Avery Palandjian defeated Rachael Fitzgerald and Abbey Russano in a marathon, prevailing in a tiebreaker by a final of 8-7 (7-4). Moving to singles play, Haverford won three of the four matches that were completed indoors.  

Fitzgerald defeated Palandjian 6-2, 6-1 at the third singles spot, Esterowitz got the better of Brazyte 6-0, 6-4 at the first spot, and Lavin dispatched Rozenfeld 6-0, 7-5 at the fourth spot. The other two singles matches were unfinished, with Russano trailing Guistwite 3-6, 4-5 at the second spot, and Williams comfortably leading Brignati 3-0 at the fifth spot. The sixth spot match between Haverford's Sriya Krishnan and Gettysburg's Alex Rieg did not start. 

With the win, Haverford has advanced to its fifth consecutive CC semifinals, as the Fords have appeared every year since 2017.