The Emory women's tennis team (6-4) concluded its trip out west with yet another top-10 matchup, taking on No. 4 ranked Middlebury on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles and Panthers were knotted up at three after concluding doubles play and three singles matches, but Emory rallied past the Panthers and swept the final three singles matches to pull out a 6-3 win. The match was played at the University of Redlands' tennis courts.
Sophomore Iris Berman has been red-hot to start her spring, adding her eighth singles win in her last nine matches on Saturday. Sophomore Emily Kantrovitz also extended her winning streak during singles play to seven, all coming in the No. 1 position, with her win against the Panthers. Freshman Yanire Marte has also turned heads, winning her past seven matches, primarily in the No. 6 position.
The Panthers struck first in doubles play. Playing on court two, junior Eliza McPherron and Berman dropped their match, 8-2, to see the Eagles fall behind 1-0 in the early going. Yet, the top doubles team of Kantrovitz and senior Ana Cristina Perez got even, winning on court one, 8-4. The Panthers ultimately took the doubles portion of the day, though, as freshman Yanire Marte and sophomore Izzy Antanavicius fell on court three, 8-5.
The Eagles entered the singles portion of the day in a 2-1 hole.
Yet, Perez came out of the gate firing on court two, swiftly taking down her opponent in straight sets, 6-1 and 6-0. With the win, Perez improves to 4-5 on the year, all coming in the No. 2 position.
Playing out of the No. 5 position, Berman continued her dominant stretch and made quick work of her opponent as well, sweeping both sets by a score of 6-1. The win gave Emory its first lead of the day, going ahead 3-2.
The Panthers would even the score, though, as Middlebury's Lulu Wu took down Antanavicius in straight sets, both ending by a score of 6-4.
With the score knotted at three, Emory needed to win at least two of the remaining singles matches. The Eagles decided to leave no doubt and win all three.
Senior Ilayda Baykan extended her singles winning streak to two on court three when she took down her opponent, 7-6 (7-2) and 6-4. The win was Baykan's fourth of the season. The rookie, Marte, took her match in straight sets as well, winning the first 6-3 before shutting out her opponent 6-0 in the second. Kantrovitz completed the sweep of the final three matches in two sets as well, winning 6-3 and 7-5 to grant the Eagles a 6-3 win over #4 Middlebury.
With the win, the Eagles' overall record this season improves to 6-4. Emory ended its trip out west strong, taking the final two matches and finishing the week's excursion 2-2. Emory will return home this week for three matches this weekend. The Eagles will start with No. 8 ranked Johns Hopkins on Friday, then take on No. 20 ranked Tufts on Saturday before wrapping up with No. 34 ranked Colby on Sunday. The matches will be streamed on EmoryAthletics.com.