Sophomore Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico will play for the NCAA Division III singles national championship as she defeated opponents from John Carroll and Amherst Saturday afternoon in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Gonzalez-Rico began the day with a three set victory over JCU's Lauren O'Malley 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 in the quarterfinals before defeating Amherst's Camille Smukler 7-6, 6-0 in the semifinals. After falling behind 5-4 to Smukler in the first set, Gonzalez-Rico won the final nine games of the match to send her into tomorrow's national championship. The two wins gave Gonzalez-Rico 33 wins on the season (33-5), one shy of tying Mary Ellen Gordon's single season program record of 34 set during the 2002-03 season.
The Division III singles title match is set for 12:00 PM EST at Stowe Stadium and will pit Gonzalez-Rico against Wesleyan's Venia Yeung. For video and live result links regarding the match, please visit the championship webpage found here: https://hornets.kzoo.edu/tournaments/tennis/2018-19/index.
Gonzalez-Rico unfortunately saw her run with sophomore Defne Olcay come to an end in the doubles competition later in the evening on Saturday as the tandem dropped a tight three-setter to Middlebury's Katherine Hughes and Skylar Schoessberger. The Eagles duo took the first set 6-2 but fell in the next two by 6-3 and 6-4 margins.
Olcay and Gonzalez-Rico close out their doubles season with a 16-8 overall record as a team.