Women's tennis, Haverford's fifth sport for women, began in 1981-1982 as a club team and became a varsity program in the 1982-1983 season under the guidance and leadership of Ann Koger.
Just three years later, in 1985, Haverford hosted the NCAA Division III women's tennis championship, thanks to a newly-installed indoor surface. During the 1985 NCAA tournament, two Fords, Patty Dinella ’86 and Amanda Figland ’88, were among the significant competitors. Dinella, a two-time Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) regional All-American and two-time Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American, was the Philadelphia AIAW's Most Outstanding Tennis Player all four years and set the college’s all-time record in singles and doubles wins. Four-time conference all-star and 1987 MAC champion Figland was nationally ranked all four years and was an ITA All-American for two years. As seniors, both players won the Varsity Cup, Haverford’s highest athletic award, presented annually to the outstanding athlete in the senior class.
With a successful foundation firmly established, Haverford’s women’s tennis team won numerous PAIAW championships and excelled in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC). Marcelle Siegel ’92 won the MAC singles title in 1989 and ended her season ranked 10th in the NCAA East region.
Since joining the Centennial Conference, the Fords have consistently competed for the championship. In 2000, Alyssa Kennedy ’02 became Haverford’s first Centennial Conference women’s singles champion. In 2002, Kennedy and doubles partner Anya Moyston ’05 won Haverford’s first Centennial Conference women’s doubles championship. In recognition of her accomplishments in 2002, Alyssa Kennedy earned first-team all-conference honors in both singles and doubles and finished the year ranked 21st in singles and 11th in doubles, with Moyston, in the ITA Atlantic South Region. The women's tennis team, in 2002, was ranked 17th in the NCAA Division III Atlantic South Region. In 2006, Laura Chaddock became Haverford’s 20th recipient of an NCAA postgraduate scholarship.
Powered by a 3-0 sweep of doubles action, the fourth-seeded Fords rolled to a 5-1 victory over the No. 5 seed, Washington College in the first round of the Centennial Conference postseason tournament in 2012. The win over the Shorewomen was Haverford’s first postseason triumph in program history.
Haverford made its first-ever appearance in the Centennial Conference Championship match during the 2014 tournament. Led by Centennial Conference Player of the Year Caitlin Gallagher ’15, the Fords avenged a regular season defeat against Franklin & Marshall with a 5-3 win during the Centennial Conference semifinals to break into unprecedented territory for the program. The Fords finished that season 12-5 overall.
Following a decorated coaching career, Koger retired following the 2015-16 season. Arik Zeevy was named the program’s head coach for the following season and guided Haverford back to the Centennial Conference semifinals. Two-time ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year Andrew Cohn was appointed as head coach for the 2017-18 academic year and led the Fords to the Centennial Conference Championship match for just the second time in school history during first year at Haverford as his team avenged a regular season defeat to Swarthmore during the conference semifinals. That season ended with Haverford attaining its first-ever national ranking as a program as the Fords with No. 40 in the final poll released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
Haverford plays its matches on the hard-surface Bramall/Marshall Courts behind the main grandstand on Walton Field, moving indoors to The Gary Lutnick Tennis and Track Center in Alumni Field House during inclement weather.