Members of the Emory University women's tennis team continued their dominant run in Tennessee this week as the Eagles went 6-0 in matches on Friday as the NCAA Division III Individual Championships got underway at the Champions Club and McCallie School in Chattanooga.
Following their NCAA run that culminated with the team championship on Wednesday, the Eagles saw Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico and Christina Watson advance to the quarterfinals in singles with two wins each as well as both doubles teams, Gonzalez-Rico/Katie Chang and Watson/Stephanie Taylor, reaching the quarterfinals after wins in the opening round.
The day started with Gonzalez-Rico and Watson earning straight set wins in the first round of the singles draw. Gonzalez-Rico, the tournament's No. 1 seed and reigning singles national champion, knocked off Southwestern's Nina Mitrofanova for the second time this week, defeating her by a 6-1, 6-4 margin. Watson was paired with the bracket's No. 2 seed, Amherst's Jackie Bukzin, in a match that was tightly contested. With the score tied at 5-5 in the opening set, Watson broke serve and then held for the 7-5 win before doing the same in set two, breaking at 4-4 before serving for the 6-4 win.
In the second round, Gonzalez-Rico faced off against Wesleyan's Katie Fleischman while Watson went against Gustavus Adolphus' Ginger Valentine. After falling behind 0-2 in the first set, Gonzalez-Rico rebounded to win six of the next seven games to claim the opening set, 6-3. However, Fleischman got the better of the top seed in set two, forcing a third set with a 6-2 win. In the third, the score was deadlocked through six games at 3-3 before Gonzalez-Rico rattled off three of the next four to advance with the 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 triumph. For Watson, she captured another straight set victory as she defeated Valentine 6-3, 6-3 to join her teammate in tomorrow's round of eight.
Gonzalez-Rico will oppose Christopher Newport's Reagan Delp while Watson will take on Bethel's Grace Reirmann. It is the first time since the 2017 season and sixth time overall where the Eagles will have two players among the final eight in the singles bracket.
In doubles, Watson and Taylor began play against Kenyon's Erika Oku and Daria Beshentseva in the first round, playing to a 4-4 score in the first set before weather forced matches to move indoors at The McCallie School. When play resumed, Watson and Taylor were able to win the next two games for the 6-4 set win and followed that up with a tiebreaker win in the second, posting the 6-4, 7-6 (2) final.
For Gonzalez-Rico and Chang, the pair remained unbeaten on the season, moving to 13-0 overall as they fended off Wesleyan's Fleischman and Venia Yeung for the second time in three days with Friday's three-set match that lasted over three hours and included two sets that went to a tiebreak. The Cardinals duo got off to a fast start, going up on the Eagles 4-1 before Gonzalez-Rico and Chang won the final five games to win the set, 6-4. In set two, the Wesleyan pair evened the match, winning 7-6 (5). In the third set, the Eagles twosome rebounded to clinch the match, winning 7-6 (3).
On Saturday, Watson and Taylor will take on Amherst's Bukzin/Julia Lendel with Gonzalez-Rico and Chang going up against St. Thomas' Nicole Snezhko and Jannah El Nemr for spots in the semifinals. It is just the fourth time ever that the Emory program has seen two doubles teams advance to the round of eight in the NCAA postseason and the first time since the Eagles did it in three consecutive years from 2002-2004.
All six wins on the day enabled the four Emory student-athletes to collect All-America honors for the abbreviated 2021 season.
Singles and doubles competition continues tomorrow with quarterfinals and semifinals in singles, beginning at 9:00 AM followed by the doubles quarterfinals later in the afternoon. Fans can follow the action with links found on the tournament webpage: https://sewaneetigers.com/tournaments/tennis/2020-21/index.