Women’s Tennis: Garnet Win Fifth Centennial Championship
SWARTHMORE, Pa. - Top-seed Swarthmore rolled to a record-tying fifth Centennial Conference Women's Tennis Team Championship with an 8-1 victory over second-seed Washington (Md.) at Faulkner Courts on Sunday afternoon.
The Garnet (16-2) extended their win streak to 13 in a row, including a stretch of 30 consecutive Centennial victories.
Swarthmore (currently ranked 18th in the country) previously won team championships in 1995, 2001, 2003 and 2005, when the title was awarded to the team with the best regular season record. The Garnet move into a tie for the most tennis championships with Franklin & Marshall College, winners in 1994, '97, '98, '99, and 2000.
The Garnet took the two out of three in doubles action to assume the early lead. Swarthmore's top doubles' tandem, juniors Sonya Reynolds and Marissa Matthews, controlled play in the No. 1 flight, defeating Washington's Allison Daciek and Beth Foster 8-4. The Shorewomen (15-6) evened the match with narrow 9-8 win at No. 2; Blake Lesser and Lydia Bull won 7-4 in a tiebreaker over Swarthmore's Erica Lukoski and Jennie Park. Swarthmore fought back to win at No. 3s by a score of 9-8, 7-4 in the tiebreak, as juniors Waverly Lutz and Sara Sargent defeated Washington's Kristen Hossick and Kate Barston.
Swarthmore clinched the championship with consecutive victories in singles play at No. 1, No. 2, and No.6. Reynolds, ranked fifth in the Atlantic South region and an All-American in 2005, defeated Daciek, ranked 24th in the region, 6-3, 6-1 in the top flight. Lutz dispatched Ryoko Sawada at No. 6 by a score of 6-0, 6-0 and Park, ranked 19th in the region, clinched the championship with a cross-court forehand winner on her way to a 6-0, 6-4 win over Foster at No. 2.
The Garnet captured the remaining singles' matches: Matthews defeated Bull at the No. 3 flight 6-1, 6-3; senior Emily Townsend got past Lasser 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (2) at No. 5, and Sargent was awarded the win 6-4, 6-6 at No. 4 when Hossick retired with leg cramps.
The women now wait to learn their fate for the upcoming NCAA Division III National Championships, scheduled to be revealed early next week. In 2005, Swarthmore fell to the national runner-up Washington & Lee in the first round 9-0.
No. 1 seed Swarthmore 8, No. 2 seed Washington 1
DOUBLES
No. 1 - Reynolds/Matthews (SC) d. Daciek/Foster (WC) 8-4
No. 2 - Leeser/Bull (WC) d. Park/Erica Lukoski (SC) 9-8 (4)
No. 3 - Sargent/Lutz (SC) d. Hossick/Barston (WC) 9-8 (4)
SINGLES
No. 1 - Sonya Reynolds (SC) d. Allison Daciek (WC) 6-3, 6-1
No. 2 - Jennie Park (SC) d. Beth Foster (WC) 6-0, 6-4
No. 3 - Marissa Matthews (SC) d. Lydia Bull (WC) 6-1, 6-3
No. 4 - Sara Sargent (SC) d. Kristen Hossick (WC) 6-4, 6-6 ret.
No. 5 - Emily Townsend (SC) d. Blake Lasser (WC) 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (2)
No. 6 - Waverly Lutz (SC) d. Ryoko Sawada (WC) 6-0, 6-0