In the first meeting between two seeded opponents in the 2010
NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Championships, fourth-seeded
Emory University prevailed over sixth-seeded Washington and Lee
University, 5-0, to advance to the quarterfinals.
Sunday’s third-round match was a rematch from earlier in the
season, when Washington and Lee defeated Emory 5-4 at the Fab Five
Tournament. However, unlike the March 27th matchup
when the Generals won two of the three doubles matches, this time,
the Eagles were able to sweep the doubles contests.
Emory’s third-doubles pairing of junior Lindsay
Reidenbach and freshman Jordan Wylie
struck the first blow for the Eagles, winning 8-4 over Washington
and Lee’s Blair Brzeski and Trelsie Sadler. The Eagles
climbed to a 2-0 lead after a battle between two of the top-ranked
doubles teams in the Atlantic South Region in the first doubles
match resulted in an 8-3 win for third-ranked Zahra
Dawson and Lorne McManigle over
second-ranked Lauren Caire and Ellen
Yeatman. Moments later, Emory’s
13th-ranked doubles pairing of Tshema
Nash and Sabra Rogers completed the
doubles sweep with an 8-4 win over 11th-ranked
Lauren Lukas and Ann Morris.
Emory was able to take a 4-0 lead, after third singles player
Jordan Wylie, ranked 24th in the Atlantic South Region,
won her match 6-0, 6-1 over Lauren Lukas. Lindsay Reidenbach
was able to clinch the team victory for Emory, winning 6-3, 6-4 in
the fifth singles match over the General’s Ann Morris, ranked
25th in the region. The other four singles matches
were left unfinished, with Emory players up a set in three of the
four.
With the 5-0 win on Sunday, Emory is now yet to lose a singles or
doubles match through its first two matches of the NCAA
Tournament. The Eagles have now defeated Washington and Lee
in the third round of the tournament in each of the last two
seasons.
Emory improved to 20-5 on the season with the win, while Washington
and Lee dropped to 19-6 with the loss.
The Eagles will advance to face fifth-seeded Denison University in
the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Championships on May
25th in Fredricksburg, VA. This is the
third-consecutive season the Eagles have advanced to the
quarterfinal round, and the 21st time since 1985.