The No. 3 ranked Emory women's tennis team (9-2) concluded its trip to California with a heavyweight bout against No. 2 ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The battle lived up to the billing, with the final decision coming down to the final singles match. While the Eagles were able to take down the doubles point, the Athenas stormed back to take down Emory, 4-3.
The Eagles dropped the opening doubles match, with junior
Emily Kantrovitz and graduate student
Dakota Fordham playing on court one. The two lost their match, 6-3, giving the Athenas an early advantage. The Eagles did not back down, though, as juniors
Iris Berman and
Izzy Antanavicius battled for a 7-5 win on court two. The win marked the tandem's 10
th consecutive win in doubles play. Another duo grabbed their 10
th consecutive win, as sophomore
Yanire Marte and senior
Eliza McPherron reached the mark with a 7-5 win on court three to secure the doubles point.
Heading into singles, the Eagles led the Athenas and needed to win three of the six singles matches.
Berman got things started on the right foot for Emory, making quick work of her opponent on court three. She won in straight sets (6-3, 6-2) to win her match and improve her record to 7-3 during dual matches this season.
Shortly thereafter, the Athenas brought things level at two points apiece with wins on courts five and four. McPherron fell in straight sets in the No. 5 spot (4-6, 4-6) and Marte suffered a similar fate on court four (3-6, 6(6)-7).
Competing in the No. 1 position, Kantrovitz regained the lead for Emory with a gutty, three-set win. The junior dropped her first set, 3-6, but rallied to win the following two, 7-5 and 6-1, and win the match. She has now won seven straight matches and is 8-1 in singles during dual matches.
The win put Emory on the brink of victory, needing to take one of the final two matches to earn a big victory on the road. Yet, the Athenas earned a pair of three-set wins over Emory on courts two and six to close out the match. Antanavicius fell in three sets (6(0)-7, 7-6(4), 4-6) on court three to see the match be tied at three. Fordham was able to seize her first set, 6-3, but dropped the following two, 6(4)-7 and 4-6, as the Athenas took the win.
The loss snaps a three-match winning streak for the Eagles and brings their dual match record to 9-2 this year. Emory will be off this week before returning to play on Friday, March 28
th when they host the #13 Carnegie Mellon Tartans at 2:00 PM. The match with Carnegie Mellon will be the first of three at home that weekend, with #1 Chicago and #9 WashU also set to visit the Woodruff P.E. Center.
