The Emory University women's tennis team's run in the NCAA Championships came to an end Wednesday afternoon as the Eagles fell in their Final Four match against Pomona-Pitzer College at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, California.
Emory ends the season with an overall record of 18-6 while PPC improves to 17-7 on the season and advanced to its first championship match since 1992 where they'll face WashU on Friday.
Playing for the third time this season, the Sagehens, who fell to the Eagles in both prior meetings, were able to flip the script in the early stages as they were able to secure the doubles point – something they had not done in either of the two previous meetings.
PPC's Angie Zhou and Marissa Markey captured the first win of the afternoon as they took down Emory's top tandem of junior Emily Kantrovitz and graduate student Dakota Fordham by a 6-3 score. Following the result on court one, the Sagehens concluded doubles play with another 6-3 verdict on court three as senior Eliza McPherron and sophomore Yanire Marte dropped their decision to Lauren Rha and Leticia Bazua Vazuez.
When doubles play ended, the Eagles were leading on court two with juniors Iris Berman and Izzy Antanavicius holding a 5-4 margin.
With the match moving into singles play, Emory needed to control four of the six courts. The Sagehens made it tough for the Eagles to seize momentum back however, as PPC captured points on courts one and six to surge ahead by a 3-0 score.
Zhou earned revenge over Kantrovitz on the No. 1 line after Kantrovitz was a three-set winner in their previous meeting in early March. Zhou was the first to win for Pomona-Pitzer as she dropped Kantrovitz in straight sets 6-1, 6-4. On court six, Fordham also fell in straight sets as Vazuez posted a 6-3, 6-3 winning line.
Emory avoided the shutout on court four as Berman tried to spark an Eagles rally with a straight set win of her own, defeating Nyakiriri Kanefu 6-3, 6-4.
Trailing 3-1, the Eagles needed to collect wins on all remaining courts as the three matches still playing went into decisive third sets.
On court five, McPherron looked as if she was going to be the key momentum swing Emory needed as she won the final four games in her second set to bring her match into a third after dropping the opening set.
That was not to be the case though as the Sagehens turned in key rallies of their own on courts two and four.
Antanavicius led in her match 6-4, 5-3 but Rha was able to stave off the Eagles' second win by taking the final four games in the second set to prolong the action on court two.
With courts two and five still going toe-to-toe, Pomona-Pitzer was able to clinch the win on court four as Markey topped Marte in a three-setter. Marte was one of three Eagles to win an opening set and held a 4-2 lead in the second until Markey was able to put together a comeback, winning 6-4 and rode that swing into a 6-1 win in the final set to send PPC into the championship match.
When play was halted, Antanavicius's line read 6-4, 5-7, 0-3 while McPherron's was 1-6, 6-4, 2-3.
With the team competition concluded for the Eagles, several players will now turn their attention to the individual championships which will get underway on Saturday in Claremont. Kantrovitz and Antanavicius are slated to compete in the 32-player singles draw while Antanavicius and Berman will represent the Eagles in the doubles draw.
