The second-seeded Middlebury women's tennis team fell in the NESCAC Championship by a 5-0 score to top-seeded Williams in a match played at the Portland Racquet Club & Fitness Center in Maine. The fifth-ranked Panthers, who advanced to the final for the first time since the current format was adapted in 2006, see an eight-match win streak snapped and fall to 13-4. The Ephs (18-3) claim the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, while the Panthers are expected to receive at-large berth when the field is announced on Monday afternoon.
Williams swept the doubles matches against the Panthers. Maya Hart and Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio put the Ephs on the scoreboard with an 8-3 win at #3 over Christina Puccinelli and Alexandra Fields. Williams doubled its lead after Julia Cancio and Hannah Atkinson posted an 8-4 victory over Middlebury's Sadie Shackelford and Kaysee Orozco in the second slot. The Ephs completed the sweep when Juli Raventos and Linda Shin defeated Ria Gerger and Lily Bondy by an 8-3 tally in the top flight.
In singles play, William made it a 4-0 score after Leah Bush topped Shackelford by scores of 6-4, 6-2 in the #6 spot. Shortly after that, the Ephs clinched the league's title when Atkinson recorded a 6-0, 6-2 victory in the fifth slot over Molly Paradies.
The top four flights went unfinished with Middlebury ahead by a set in three of them. Gerger lost the opening set to Raventos by a 6-3 score at #1, but the Panther led the second set 3-2. Fields, Bondy and Puccinelli won their respective opening sets in spots two through four and led in the second sets as well when the matches were halted.
