By Jordan Fairchild
Elm Staff Writer
On Wednesday, April 27, the Washington College women’s tennis team traveled to Collegeville, Pa. to take on the Ursinus College Bears for a Centennial Conference match.
The Bears took the third spot in the doubles matches, but the Shorewomen won the other two matches. Junior Irene Meng and sophomore Piper Sartison defeated the Bears in the No. 1 spot at 8–4. The No. 2 spot was taken by senior Alisha White and sophomore Maria Cristina Diaz-Nazario with a score of 8–2.
During singles matches, the Shorewomen won the majority again. Meng triumphed over the Bears in an intense No. 1 spot match. She ended with scores of 6–7, 7–5, and 10–1.
White took the No. 2 spot at 6–2 for both sets. Sartison followed her in the No. 3 spot, winning 7–5 and 6–1. The final singles win was captured by Diaz-Nazario, who won at 6–2 and 6–1. The Bears took the No. 5 and 6 spots.
The Shorewomen won the overall match, 6–3, and secured a spot in the Conference Tournament.
“We had a tough match on Wednesday,” Sartison said. “We pushed past the challenges and didn’t let it affect us. All of us have put in so much effort.”
Their final regular-season game was played on Saturday, April 30, against the Muhlenberg College Mules at the Schottland Tennis Center. White was honored beforehand for the team’s Senior Day.
The Shorewomen swept the Mules, 7–1. The only loss the Shorewomen took was the No. 3 singles spot.
Meng took the No. 1 singles set with scores of 6–0 and 6–1; White won the No. 2 spot at 6–0 and 6–2. Juniors Bin Nguyen won 6–1 in both of her No. 4 spot sets and Katie Ruppert at 6–1 and 6–2 in the No. 5 spot.
The doubles matches were dominated by the Shorewomen: White and Diaz-Nazario won 8–2 at No. 1, Nguyen and Meng won, 8–0, at No. 2, and Sartison and Ruppert took the No. 3 spot by default.
The Shorewomen finished their season with an overall record of 11–6 and 5–4 in the Conference. They are ranked 18th in the Atlantic South Region for Division III women’s tennis and are the fifth seed.
“We are on our way to the playoffs for the first time since 2018 and I could not be prouder,” White said. “No matter what team we played, our drive to give it our all never changed.”
On Tuesday, April 26, the WC men’s tennis team hosted the in-Conference Swarthmore College Garnets at the Schottland Tennis Center. The Garnets took the meet, 7–2.
Freshman Brady Burns snatched the lone victory in the singles matches for the Shoremen in the No. 5 spot. The sets’ ending score was 8–4. Junior Karl Hoegstedt and senior Andrew Smith defeated the Garnets in the No. 1 spot, 8–5, during the doubles matches.
The Shoremen took on the Muhlenberg College Mules for their final regular-season game on Saturday, April 30. They competed in the in-Conference matchup at the Schottland Tennis Center while honoring their seniors, Smith and Koby Bonta, for their Senior Day.
Bonta saw victory in the No. 1 spot in the singles competition with ending scores of 7–1 and 6–0. Smith also won, 6–0 and 6–1, in the No. 5 singles spot.
Burns and sophomore Ryohei Kawai won the No. 2-3 spots, all games at 6–1. Junior Andrew Province took the No. 4 match, 6–1 and 6–2, and freshman Johannes Ludwigstorff finished the singles off with 6–2 and 6–1 wins in the No. 6 spot.
The doubles matches saw another sweep from the Shoremen. Junior Landon Strober and Bonta teamed up to take the No. 1 spot, 8–3. Smith and junior Christian Gruyon competed in the No. 2 spot with Ludwigstorff and freshman Aaradith Ravichandran took on the No. 3 spot. Both pairs won 8–1.
The Shoremen won, 8–0, over the Mules. The victory solidified a fourth seed placement in the Conference Tournament.
“I’m proud of the team for continuing to improve every day,” Strober said. “We always bring the energy to support each other. Next week is playoff time and we plan to continue to do that and win.”
The Shoremen finished their regular season with a Conference record of 5–3 and an overall record of 11–7.
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