The women’s tennis team is back to a full roster after being one player short just in time for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) Indoor Nationals. Walk-on Summer Quinn ’22 clinched her first collegiate win at No. 6 singles to help the Judges to a seventh place finish in the tournament against host Centre College.
Coming in ranked 10th in the country in Division III by ITA and the seventh seed in the tournament, the Judges faced the second-seeded and third ranked Emory Eagles in the first round of the tournament, losing 1-8.
Sophomore Ana Hatfield ’22 fought back against 26th-ranked Dafne Olcay to beat the Eagle 2-6, 6-4, 10-3 at No. 2 singles. Hatfield dug deep in the second set and held off Olcay with a late break. She held a commanding 5-1 lead in the third set tiebreaker, just dropping two more points after the changeover to defeat Olcay.
Lauren Bertsch ’21 and Hatfield had a close match at No. 1 doubles against the Eagles, holding serve throughout most of the match, but ultimately losing in a tiebreaker 7-8(8). The Eagles made quick work of Rachel Zubrinsky ’21 and Isabel Cepeda ’21 at No. 2 and Quinn and Grace Wang ’23 at No. 3 doubles, bageling both duos.
Now in the consolation bracket, the Judges faced sixth-seed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the second time in two weeks, once again dropping all matches. In doubles action, Zubrinsky and Cepeda had the closest match, losing 4-8 to Pamela Duke and Megan Guenther of MIT at No. 2 doubles.
The singles matches were much closer. Zubrinsky had the closest match in singles, staying on pace with Ashley Teng from MIT, but ultimately looking 6-3, 6-4. Hatfield again made a strong comeback in the second set of her No. 2 singles match, but couldn’t hold off Seraphin Castelino, losing in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.
On the final day of the tournament, the Judges prevailed against Centre College to not only a seventh place finish, but also their first win of the season. Centre College led the match-up after doubles play, with Bertsch and Hatfield holding off the Colonels doubles sweep at No. 1 doubles, defeating Hannah Doherty and Katharine Sherman 8-6. Zubrinsky and Cepeda fell 5-8 at No. 2 doubles and Wang and Quinn lost 2-8 at No. 3 doubles.
The Judges went 4-2 in singles play to help secure their victory over the Colonels, 5-4. Hatfield made quick work of Caroline Stallings at No. 2 singles, winning in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. Bertsch and Cepeda also picked up wins at No. 1 and No. 4 singles with scores of 6-4, 6-3 and 7-6, 6-2, respectively. Zubrinsky had a close match against Doherty at No. 3 singles, but lost 4-6, 2-6. Wang lost at No. 5 singles to Ella Rueff with a score of 1-6, 1-6.
With the dual match tied at 4-4, Quinn’s match at No. 6 singles decided the outcome of the match. Caroline Lancaster narrowly head off Quinn in the first set, winning in a tiebreaker. Afterwards, Quinn held a dominating lead, winning the second set 6-4 and only dropping one game in the third set to win 6-7, 6-4, 6-1.
The Judges improve to 1-4 on the season with a win over Centre College and will face Wellesley College on Sunday, March 8.
