The fourth-ranked Emory University Women's Tennis team will play for the program's sixth National Championship on Wednesday, earning a berth into the NCAA Division III Title Game after upsetting top-ranked Amherst College 5-4 in a marathon NCAA Semifinal match in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Tuesday.

Emory, now 18-4 this season, will take on Williams College for the NCAA Championship on Wednesday at 11:00 AM.  The Ephs reached the title match with a 5-1 win over second-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Tuesday.  Fans can follow the NCAA Championship match with live video at http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule and live results at http://hornets.kzoo.edu/ncaa/2013tennis/live.

The Eagles took the early advantage in Tuesday's match against Amherst, striking first in doubles play with an 8-2 win from junior Brenna Kelly and freshman Emma Taylor at third doubles over Safi Aly and Caroline Richman.  Amherst would even the match with a win at second doubles, as Jen Newman and Zoe Pangalos withstood a come-back attempt from senior Jordan Wylie and freshman Madison Gordon to win 9-7.  However, Emory would end the doubles matches with a lead, as junior Gabrielle Clark and freshman Annette Sullivan claimed the final point with an 8-6 win over former NCAA doubles champions Jordan Brewer and Gabby Devlin in the first match.

Amherst would rebound, winning the first two singles matches decided, to take a 3-2 lead.  At third singles, Sue Ghosh defeated Wylie 6-2, 6-3, while Newman followed at second singles with a 6-2, 6-4 win at second singles over freshman Beatrice Rosen.  Emory would even the score at 3-3 behind Clark at first singles, who defeated Brewer 7-6 (5), 6-3 at first singles.

The other three matches, the results of which would award one of the two teams a trip to the NCAA Championship, each proved to be a nail-biting three-set affair.  The first to be decided was the fifth singles match, where Gordon fell to Devlin to put Amherst a point away from clinching.  After winning the first set 6-2, Gordon dropped the second set 2-6 to her opponent, and trailed 5-2 in the third set.  Gordon valiantly fought back, winning four of the next five games to force a third-set tiebreaker, but eventually fell 7-6 (3).

Down 4-3, Emory would need wins from both freshman Marissa Levine at fourth singles, and Kelly at sixth singles, to avoid their third-straight trip to the consolation match.  Kelly would be the first to abide, defeating Pangalos in three sets to even the team score at four apiece.  Kelly took the first set by a 7-5 score, but dropped the second set 4-6.  However, Kelly bounced back with a strong 6-3 third set victory to claim the individual win.

With the score tied 4-4, all eyes turned to the fourth singles match, where Levine dropped the first set 3-6 to Richman, but bounced back with a thrilling 7-6 (6) second set tiebreaker win to stave off the loss.  Energized by the tiebreaker victory, Levine secured the Eagles' come-from-behind win with a dominating 6-1 win in the third set to clinch the team win for Emory, and lift the Eagles into the NCAA Championship match.

When the final point was tallied the match totaled over five hours in length, including a brief rain delay during doubles play.  Amherst ended its 2013 season with a 20-3 record, as the Eagles avenged a 5-4 loss to the Jeffs earlier in the season with the win on Tuesday.

Emory will now play in its eighth NCAA Championship match all-time, and its first since the 2010 season.  The Eagles are 5-2 all-time in NCAA Championship matches, including wins in 1996, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006.  The victory in 1996, the first NCAA Championship in Emory Athletics history, also took place in Kalamazoo, Michigan, as did the Eagles' title win in 2005.  Emory has now won 11-consecutive NCAA Tournaments matches in Kalamazoo, dating back to the 1994 season.

Williams will enter Wednesday's match with an overall record of 22-4, and in search of its sixth-consecutive NCAA Championship.  This will be the third time that Emory and Williams have played each other for the NCAA Championship.  Emory's only two NCAA Title match losses came to Williams, a 6-3 defeat in 2002 and a 5-0 setback in 2010.  The Eagles are 7-11 all-time against the Ephs, including a 6-3 loss on April 7^th.  Clark and Rosen each claimed singles victories for Emory in the loss, while Taylor and Kelly claimed a third-doubles victory in the match.