Middlebury advanced to the NCAA Women's Tennis Semifinals for the second time in program history and the first time since 2005 with a 5-2 win over seventh-ranked Amherst in a quarterfinal match played on Western Michigan's Sorensen Courts in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The fifth-ranked Panthers (16-4) will play #1 Emory, who defeated #10 Washington-St. Louis 5-0, on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. at Kalamazoo's Stowe Tennis Center. The Purple & White finish the season at 14-8.
Middlebury jumped out to a 2-1 advantage after doubles play on Monday. The top pair of Ria Gerger and Lily Bondy grabbed the first point via an 8-1 victory over Sue Ghosh and Sarah Monteagudo. The #2 Amherst team of Kelsey Chen and Vickie Ip tied the match at 1-1 with an 8-1 victory over Middlebury's Kaysee Orozco and Sadie Shackelford. The Panthers took the one-point lead headed to singles with a 9-7 victory from Alexandra Fields and Christina Puccinelli over Rebecca Pol and Avery Wagman.
In singles action, Gerger put the Panthers ahead by a 3-1 score with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Ip in the top spot. Amherst pulled to within one (3-2) when Wagman posted a 6-4, 6-2 win at #6 over Orozco. In the #4 slot, Puccinelli put the Panthers up 4-2 with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 victory over Monteagudo. Molly Paradies clinched the match with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win at #5 against Chen.
In the other two matches that went unfinished, Fields and Ghosh each won a set by 6-3 scores and were tied 4-4 in the third at #2, while Jackie Calla for Amherst won the opening set at #3 and Bondy took set number two 6-3. Calla grabbed the first two games of the final set before the match was decided.
Monday's national quarterfinal match between Middlebury and Amherst marked the 43rd meeting overall and the third this spring in the all-time series that started in 1977 between the conference programs. The teams met twice this season with the Panthers coming out on top in both. The squads have now played four times in the NCAA Tournament, with Monday's win as the first for the Panthers. The Purple & White defeated Middlebury by a 5-4 score in the 2005 NCAA Third-Place Match in Kalamazoo. In back-to-back NCAA Regionals in 2010 and 2011, Amherst was victorious over the Panthers by 5-1 and 5-0 scores, respectively.
