The No. 3 ranked Emory women's tennis team (10-3) continued its stacked schedule this weekend, facing off with the top-ranked Chicago Maroons on Saturday morning. Having won on Friday over #6 Carnegie Mellon, the Eagles were looking to keep it rolling against their UAA counterparts. In a match between two highly competitive and talented teams, the margin for victory was razor thin. Ultimately, the Maroons were able to narrowly take the doubles point before splitting the singles matches to earn a 4-3 win over the Eagles.
The meeting was the second between the two programs, with the Maroons and Eagles having clashed at the ITA Team Indoor National Championships earlier this month. The Maroons were able to pull away in a 5-2 decision in the tournament's semifinal round.
The Eagles have dominated doubles play this entire season, but the Maroons were able to get the better of them this time around and swept all three matches. Graduate student
Dakota Fordham and junior
Emily Kantrovitz were the first to fall on court two, dropping their match, 6-3. Sophomore
Yanire Marte and senior
Eliza McPherron were the next to fall, playing to a 6-4 decision on court three. This was the duos first loss of the season, dropping them to 11-1 on the year. Another duo suffered its first loss of the season, with juniors
Izzy Antanavicius and
Iris Berman falling in a tiebreaker, 7-6(4).
The Eagles were in an early hole against the nation's top team, needing four singles wins to topple the Maroons. Chicago built on its lead, though, with a quick win in straight sets on court six as Fordham fell, 6-1 and 6-0. Marte got the point right back, though, as she won her match on court four, 7-5 and 6-0.
Berman knotted things up at two with her straight set win on court three, taking the win by a score of 6-4 and 6-1. The win marked her fourth straight, bringing her record to 9-3 this spring.
Chicago pushed Emory into a corner when the Maroons notched their third point with a win on court five. Brooke Pederson topped McPherron, 6-4 and 7-5, to put the Eagles' backs up against the wall.
Kantrovitz and Antanavicius were unwilling to surrender, forcing third sets after both dropped their opening frame. Kantrovitz rallied for her ninth-consecutive win in the No. 1 position, finishing with a line of 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to dispatch Chicago's Sylwia Mikos. With the match tied at three points apiece, it came down to Antanavicius on court two. While she battled, she eventually dropped the final set as the Maroons claimed victory. Her final score was 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
The loss drops the Eagles to 10-3 on the year. Emory's only losses this year came against Chicago and #2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, two of the three being decided by just one point. The Eagles will wrap up its weekend slate tomorrow with a match against #17 WashU. The match is slated for an 11:00 AM start at the Woodruff P.E. Center Tennis Courts.
