The Emory University women's tennis program captured the NCAA Division III doubles national championship Sunday evening as Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico and Katie Chang defeated Christina Watson and Stephanie Taylor in the all-Emory national championship at the Champions Club Tennis Complex in Chattanooga, TN.
Gonzalez-Rico and Chang capped off a perfect 2021 doubles season as they topped their Eagle teammates in a great three set match, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. They finish the year with an unblemished 16-0 record, the first Emory doubles duo to post a 1.000 winning percentage in a season with a minimum of 15 matches played. On the other side of the net, Watson and Taylor close out a tremendous season as the national runners-up with a 12-4 record. All four Emory student-athletes earned All-America honors for their play this season and for this past week in Tennessee.
This marks the fifth-ever doubles national championship in the history of the Emory women's tennis program and the first since the Eagles won four consecutive doubles crowns from 2001-2004 led by Emory Hall of Famer Mary Ellen Gordon who played on all four winning teams alongside Anusha Natarajan and Jolyn Taylor.
With the win, Gonzalez-Rico joins rarefied air as she completes the career triple crown: team national championship, singles national championship and doubles national championship. She joins Gordon as the only two players to accomplish the feat in program history.
After the match began with Watson and Taylor winning the opening salvo, Gonzalez-Rico and Chang won six of the next seven games to cruise to a first set win, 6-2. The No. 2 Emory team did not back down however despite falling behind 4-2 in the second set. Watson and Taylor were able to claim five of the final six games to force a third and decisive set, winning 7-5.
In the final set, both teams held serve until Gonzalez-Rico and Chang grabbed a crucial break to move in front 3-2. They held serve in the next game for the 4-2 lead before Watson and Taylor did the same to make it 4-3. But that was as close as the set would be as the senior duo closed out the match with back-to-back wins to clinch the title.
Earlier in the afternoon in the semifinals, Gonzalez-Rico and Chang stormed to a straight set victory, losing just one game total as they bested Bethel's Grace and Maggie Reirmann, 6-0, 6-1, in short order. On the court right next to them, Watson and Taylor pulled off a gutsy three-set win over UT-Dallas' Kathy Joseph and Sam Wong, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 to advance to the finals.
The Eagles round out their impressive week at the Champions Club with the team national championship, a national championship and national runner-up performance in doubles and a national runner-up effort in the singles tournament.
