HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College women's tennis doubles pairing of Abbey Russano and Ellie Esterowitz have been selected as the second alternate pairing for the 2024 NCAA Division III Doubles Championship, as the selections were announced Wednesday evening in a press release on NCAA.com.
Russano and Esterowitz excelled in doubles play together this season, earning a first-team All-Centennial Conference selection after compiling a 14-4 overall record, including an 11-3 mark in the dual-match season and 6-0 during conference play. The pairing was ranked in the Atlantic South, reaching as high as number eight, and were the second-ranked pairing in Region III in the latest NCAA regional rankings release prior to the NCAA tournament selection announcement.
Key victories included wins over the top-flight pairings from nationally-ranked squads Denison, Mary Washington, and Christopher Newport, as well as the 10th-ranked pairing in the region from No. 7 Johns Hopkins (Jay Xiaco and Sophia Kim).
Any singles player or doubles team that scratches from the tournament will be replaced in sequential order by the published list of alternates. The draw for the individual championship will be done by the women's tennis committee and will be released on May 24 not before 7 p.m. Eastern time.
Haverford has never had a doubles team qualify for the NCAA Championships, while both Esterowitz (2023) and Russano (2022) have represented the Fords in the NCAA singles tournament in each of the last two seasons.
The 2023 singles title went to Angie Zhou of Pomona-Pitzer, while Sewanee's Brooke Despriet and Katherine Petty claimed the 2023 doubles title at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps is the defending national champion, having defeated UChicago 5-3 to take the team title in 2023. For more information about the championships, including the championships bracket, log on to www.ncaa.com.