The Emory University women's tennis team showed tremendous fight but ultimately could not complete the comeback as the Eagles fell to Wesleyan University in a four-hour epic Monday afternoon in the national quarterfinals at the UTSA National Campus in Orlando, FL.
For the third consecutive postseason, the Cardinals and Eagles matched up at the final site with the third meeting living up to the hype as Wesleyan pulled out the 5-3 victory to advance to Tuesday's semifinals to take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. With the win, Wesleyan improves to 23-0 while the defeat puts an end to the Eagles season, finishing the year with a 10-10 record.
"It was an amazing battle today," Head Coach Amy Bryant said following the match. "Extremely proud of our entire crew for the way they competed and represented our program. It was a season full of learning for us and that showed today. Obviously not the result we wanted but the future looks bright."
The Eagles found themselves with their backs against the wall as the Cardinals swept the doubles portion to lay claim to a 3-0 advantage, winning all three matches by either 8-3 or 8-4 margins.
The deficit grew to 4-0 as Wesleyan's Katie Fleischman defeated freshman Eliza McPherron in straight sets at the second position.
Needing wins in all five remaining singles matches, Emory began mounting its comeback. Junior Stephanie Shulman was the first of three straight Eagle victories as she was a straight set winner on four 6-2, 6-2.
Senior Emma Cartledge and sophomore Ana Cristina Perez added straight set decisions to help pull the Eagles to within one. Cartledge turned in a 6-2, 6-1 win at the No. 1 spot with Perez recording the 6-0, 6-3 win at the fifth position.
The remaining two courts featuring junior Alexa Goetz and senior Christina Watson went to decisive third sets. After dropping the first set in a tiebreak, Watson forced a third with her 6-4 rally in the second. For Goetz, she won handily in the first set 6-1 before being pushed into a third after Wesleyan's Renna Mohsen-Breen bounced back with a 6-4 win in the second.
Both Eagles found themselves in early holes in the third set with the deciding point coming on court six against Goetz. She fell behind 4-1 but was able to fight her way to 5-4 after breaking serve at 5-3. However, Mohsen-Breen was able to break back to clinch the match for the Cardinals. When the match reached its conclusion, Watson trailed 4-2 after holding serve at 4-1.
With the team competition now completed, two Eagles turn their focus to the NCAA Individual Championships later this week with Watson and Perez slated to represent the Blue and Gold in the 16-team doubles competition. The opening rounds of the individual championships will get underway Friday, May 27th in Orlando.