The No. 2-ranked Emory women's tennis team saw its bid to repeat as national champion fall excruciatingly short on Wednesday as the Eagles were defeated by No. 1 Williams College in the title match of the NCAA D-III finals. Williams withstood a late Emory rally and defeated the Eagles, 5-4, raising its record to 25-0 while Emory finished out the year at 20-4. The D-III Championships were conducted at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.
The highly anticipated showdown featured the two programs that had combined to win 13 of the past 14 national titles, and the contest did not disappoint with the match lasting close to five hours.
Emory trailed by a 2-1 margin after doubles as the Ephs' No. 3 team of Rebecca Curran and Maya Hart earned the first point of the match with a victory over Melissa Goodman and Rebecca Siegler. The Eagles knotted the contest following a superb effort by sophomore Michelle Satterfield and freshman Anna Fuhr, with the pair posting an 8-4 verdict at the No. 1 spot over Julia Cancio and Mia Gancayco, their 10th win in 16 decisions on the year. Williams captured the final doubles point at No. 2 when Juli Raventos and Linda Shin edged freshman Bridget Harding and sophomore Katarina Su, 8-6.
The Ephs stretched their lead to 3-1 following a win at No. 3 singles but Emory countered with an impressive performance by Harding at No. 5 that saw her stop Cancio, 6-4, 6-4, raising her ledger to 27-4 with her victory total pacing the squad and tying for ninth on the program's seasonal chart. Williams moved to within one point of clinching the match when Raventos topped Michelle Satterfield, 6-3, 6-2, at the No. 1 spot.
With three singles matches still to be contested, Emory mounted its comeback bid at No. 4 when Su notched a straight-set, 7-6, 6-4, verdict against Gancayco, her 22nd triumph of the campaign in 29 outings. Junior Madison Gordon kept Emory's hopes alive when her 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 outcome over Hannah Atkinson at No. 6 deadlocked the match score at 4-4. Gordon's win was her 13th straight and raised her season mark to 14-1 (10-0 at No. 6). The deciding point came down to second singles where junior Bea Rosen and Linda Shin waged a back-and-forth clash. Rosen battled back from dropping the first four games to claim the first set, 6-4, before Shin responded with a 6-2 win in the second set. The deciding third set saw each player break in the opening two games before holding over the next five games. With Rosen serving at 3-4, Shin gained a big edge when she got a breaker, setting the stage for her to hold her subsequent serving opportunity, claiming a 6-3 win as well as the clinching point of the match.
Today marked Emory's 10th appearance in the national championship match and fourth runner-up finish.