Williams Edges Chicago 5-4 in NCAA Women's Tennis Semifinals

Courtesy Williams Sports Information

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – Today’s NCAA semifinal match between Williams College (22-3) and the University of Chicago (23-4) featured two teams with 13-match win streaks. Thanks to a pressure filled win by Eph first year Nancy Worley at five singles, in the only three-set match of the day, Williams downed Chicago 5-4.

The win extended the Eph NCAA Tournament win streak to 14 and snapped Chicago’s skein of wins at 13. Williams advances to its third consecutive championship match and will play the Emory University Eagles tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 PM. This marks the first time in their 17-year NCAA Tournament history that the Ephs have played in three straight finals.

The Ephs and Emory played on March 28th at Emory and Williams prevailed by a score of 6-3 by sweeping doubles play.

"These girls continue to inspire me with how they just never did not believe they would win even when they were down," said Eph head coach Alison Swain. "The mental toughness of this team is impressive. Caroline Capute was right on the verge of having to stop playing due to the heat, but she put ice bags all over her body at every break and toughed out a win. She didn't even see Nancy's match as we made her go inside out of the heat."

"We played well in doubles and Caroline and Lucy at three battled the whole way," noted Swain. "We were a little disappointed not to have the lead after doubles, but we really re-established momentum by going up a set in almost every singles match."

Chicago's top doubles team of Kendra Higgins and Chrissy Hu, the defending NCAA doubles champions, had won 14 straight matches before losing yesterday vs. Pomona, but today Higgins/Hu got Chicago off to a good start as they defeated Grace Baljon/Taylor French 8-3 to record the first result of the match.

The Ephs knotted the score at one all when Kristin Alotta/Nikki Reich topped Jennifer Kung/Linden Li 8-4 at number two.

Three doubles was an all out battle between the Ephs Caroline Capute/Lucy Marchese and the Maroons' Aswini Krishnan/Carmen Vaca Guzman. With the match tied at 6 Capute/Marchese went up 7-6, only to have Krishnan/Vaca Guzman win the next two games to go up 8-7. Capute/Marchese would not buckle though winning the next game to even the match at 8 and force a tiebreaker.

Krishnan/Vaca Guzman got off to a 3-2 lead in the tiebreaker closed out the match by prevailing in the tiebreaker by a 7-4 margin. With the win Krishnan/Vaca Guzman won their 10th consecutive doubles match and gave the Maroons a 2-1 advantage heading into singles play.

Straight set wins by Caroline Capute at six and Kristin Alotta at two boosted the Ephs into a 3-2 and that lead soon grew to 4-2 when junior Nikki Reich posted a straight set win at number 3. Chicago narrowed the Eph lead to 4-3 when Kendra Higgins topped the Ephs Grace Baljon at number one in straight sets.

The Maroons' Linden Li then defeated the Ephs Lucy Marchese at number four by taking the second set in a tiebreaker (7-6), setting the stage for the result at five singles to determine the outcome of the match and determine which team would advance to the finals.

The Ephs Nancy Worley opened her five singles match with a 6-2 win over Chrissy Hu, but then lost the second set 6-4 to put the fate of both teams on the third and final set. Five singles was the only match to go three sets.

Worley had rescued the Ephs back in the Sweet 16 match when she battled back from down one set to provide the winning point over NESCAC foe Tufts, 5-4, and keep the Ephs in the title hunt.

The feisty Eph first year showed no signs of feeling the added pressure of needing to deliver a win to ensure that the Ephs would advance as she crisply rattled off a six straight wins to claim the third set 6-0.

"Yes, I did think about the Tufts match and that third set today and I think that experience helped me, but what really helped me was my teammates," Worley said. "I was just trying to win the first set and then be consistent from there, but they were all cheering so loud it carried me."

"Key in Nancy's third set was that she did not lose a first point of a game until the fifth game and she won that game 40-15," noted Swain.

"We truly are a team in every way," stated Worley. "We play for each other and no one is out there playing for herself. We're also a family too and that goes back over the years as we're always getting notes and words of encouragement from players who played here before us."

Worley was not even in the Eph lineup back on March 26th when the Ephs edged Chicago 5-4.

In the March match versus the Maroons the Ephs doubles lineup had Nikki Reich/Kristin Alotta at one; Grace Baljon/Taylor French at two, and Caroline Capute/Lucy Marchese at three. Today the Ephs had Blajon/French at one; Reich/Alotta at two, while Capute/Marchese remained at three.

Today's match marked the first time Williams and Chicago have met in the NCAA Tournament, but back on March 26 the Ephs edged the Maroons 5-4 in a match played at Mary Washington University as part of the Fab Five Tournament. In that match the Maroons won two of three doubles points, but the Ephs bounced back to win four singles encounters with senior captain Ashley Parsons' straight set win at 6 the decider.

Williams now sports an NCAA Tournament record of 47-13, while Chicago is currently 6-4 in the tourney.

Tomorrow's NCAA championship match will feature the two winningest teams in Division III as Emory has won five titles and the Ephs have won four, including the last two in a row. Chicago will clsoe out its season tomorrow when they play Anherst at 9:00 AM in the third place match.

Williams 5, Chicago 4

[ ] = Order of Finish

Doubles
1. Kendra Higgins/Chrissy Hu (UC) def. Grace Baljon/Taylor French (W) – 8-3 [1]
2. Kristin Alotta/Nikki Reich (W) def. Jennifer Kung/Linden Li (UC) – 8-4 [2]
3. Carmen Vaca Guzman/Aswini Krishnan (UC) def. Caroline Capute/Lucy Marchese (W) – 9-8(7-4) [3]

Singles
1. Kendra Higgins (UC) def. Grace Baljon (W) – 6-4, 6-3 [7]
2. Kristin Alotta (W) def. Jennifer Kung (UC) – 6-1, 6-1 [5]
3. Nikki Reich (W) def. Carmen Vaca Guzman (UC) – 6-4, 6-2 (6)
4. Linden Li (UC) def. Lucy Marchese (W) – 6-3, 7-6(7-5) [8]
5. Nancy Worley (W) def. Chrissy Hu (UC) – 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 [9]
6. Caroline Capute (W) def. Tiffany Nguyen (UC) – 6-1, 6-0 [4]