Emory University senior Jordan Wylie claimed a come-from-behind three-set victory in the third singles match to clinch a 5-2 win for the fourth-ranked Eagles against sixth-ranked Middlebury College in Monday's NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Quarterfinal contest in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
With the win, Emory will advance to the semifinals of the NCAA Championships for the fifth-straight season, and the 14th-time in the program's history. The Eagles are 7-6 all-time in NCAA Quarterfinal matches.
On Monday, Emory jumped out to a quick lead in the match by claiming victories in two of the three doubles matches. After the Eagles' second doubles pairing of Wylie and freshman Madison Gordon dropped an 8-5 decision to Middlebury's duo of Lok-Sze Leung and Ria Gerger, Emory would claim 8-5 victories in the other two contests, with freshman Emma Taylor and junior Brenna Kelly defeating Katie Paradies and Dorrie Paradies in the third doubles match, and junior Gabrielle Clark and freshman Annette Sullivan earning a win over Brittney Faber and Leah Kepping in the first doubles contest.
Leading 2-1 heading into singles play, Emory would buffer its lead by claiming points from the first two singles matches that were decided. Gordon struck first for the Eagles, winning the fifth singles match over Dorrie Paradies, 6-1, 6-2, and shortly thereafter, freshman Beatrice Rosen earned a 6-1, 6-2 win over Gerger at second singles. It marked the 14th-consecutive win for Rosen, the longest active singles winning streak by an Eagle.
However, Middlebury answered back with a point from Faber, who defeated Kelly 6-0, 6-2 to cut Emory's lead in the match to 4-2.
With Emory needing just one more victory to clinch the team win, the other three singles contests each split the first two sets. It would be Wylie, a two-time all-American playing in her final career week of tennis for Emory, who would gut out the victory to clinch the team win, coming back after losing her first set 3-6 to win the next two, 6-3, 6-4 over Kepping at third singles.
The other two singles matches were left unfinished when the match was decided. At first singles, Clark trailed Leung 7-5, 4-6, 4-1, while Emory freshman Marissa Levine was behind Margot Marchese 6-4, 3-6, 2-0 at fourth singles.
The victory raised Emory's record to 17-4 this season, and to 63-31 all-time in NCAA Tournament matches. Middlebury's season came to a close with a ledger of 13-7.
Next up for the Eagles will be Amherst College, the top-ranked team in Division III this season. The Jeffs will enter the match with a 20-2 record, after defeating Washington University (Mo.) 5-1 in the quarterfinals on Monday.
This will be the second meeting of the season between the two teams, after the Eagles suffered a 5-4 loss to the Jeffs at home on March 22nd, marking the third-straight match between the squads that has been decided by a 5-4 score. In the match, Emory received a third-doubles win from Kelly and Taylor, and singles wins from Clark, Rosen and Wylie. The Eagles are 11-4 all-time against Amherst, including a 6-2 record in NCAA Tournament meetings.
The semifinal match is slated for an 8:30 AM start at Stowe Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Live results for the match will be available at http://hornets.kzoo.edu/ncaa/2013tennis/live-stowe, while live video coverage can be viewed at http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule.
The winner of Tuesday's semifinal will advance to the NCAA Division III Championship match on Wednesday at 11:00 AM, while the losing team will move on to the third-place match on Wednesday at 8:30 AM.
#4 Emory Edges #6 Middlebury to Advance to NCAA Semis
Posted: May 20, 2013