The Emory women’s tennis team suffered its first loss of
the season to a Division III opponent on Saturday, as the
second-ranked Eagles were upset 5-4 at the hands of the
sixth-ranked Washington and Lee Generals.
The Eagles’ second match of the Fab 5 Tournament in
Fredericksburg, VA, pitted the two top-ranked teams in the Atlantic
South region against each other.
The Eagles fell into an early hole by dropping two of the three
doubles matches. Emory got its only doubles victory of the
day from its freshman pairing of Jordan Wylie and
Amanda Wikman in the third doubles match, with the
duo claiming an 8-6 win.
Trailing 2-1 heading into singles play, the Eagles would get
straight-set victories from Jordan Wylie in the
third singles match (6-1, 6-0), Tshema Nash in the
fifth singles match (6-1, 6-2) and Sara Vrabec in
the sixth-singles match (6-0, 6-3). However, losses in the
first and second singles matches by Lorne
McManigle and Zahra Dawson left the match
tied at four apiece.
With one singles match left, Emory’s Lindsay
Reidenbach battled the General’s Lauren
Lukas into three sets, but ended up falling just short,
2-6, 6-2, 6-2, giving Washington and Lee the team victory.
The loss was the Emory’s first this season to a Division III
opponent, including a 7-0 record entering the game against ranked
Division III teams. Emory fell to 14-3 overall on the year
with the loss, while Washington and Lee improved to 14-4.
The loss also put an end to the Eagles’ 10-match winning
streak.
Emory will try to bounce back tomorrow against another one of the
nation’s top-ranked teams, facing third-ranked Williams
College at 11:00 AM, in the team’s final match of the Fab 5
Tournament.