Women's Tennis

Penn, Yale win semis, set for clash in Sunday’s title match

Penn, Yale win semis, set for clash in Sunday’s title match   
 
PRINCETON, N.J. – The Eastern College Athletic Conference hosted the first round of the Women’s Indoor Tennis Championship on Saturday, with #5 Yale and #2 Penn punching their tickets to Sunday’s championship final. The tournament is being hosted by Princeton University at Lenz Tennis Center and will wrap up on Sunday afternoon.
 
Princeton picked up wins in the second and third doubles flights against Harvard to begin Saturday’s action, and Eva Elbaz and Pearlie Zhang pushed the lead to 3-0 with victories in singles play. Harvard’s Claire Shao won the fourth flight to get the Crimson on the board, but Bella Chhiv earned the clinching point with a 6-4, 6-2 victory on Court 2.
 
Dartmouth picked up the doubles point in the other half of the consolation bracket, and Sam Grosjean gave the Big Green a 2-0 lead with the first win in singles. Dylan Gelber’s Court 4 gave Cornell their first point, but Dartmouth’s Peyton Capuano answered with a 6-0, 6-3 win in the top flight.
 
Cornell rattled off three straight victories on Courts 3, 5 and 2 respectively, with Cornell sophomore Sage Loudon winning the third set 6-4 to earn the clinch.
 
5-seed Yale snagged the doubles point against 8-seed Brown in the first championship semifinal of the day, and singles wins from Julia Werdiger and Angela Huang put the Bulldogs on the brink of a sweep. Shyla Aggarwal finished it off, coming away with a 7-5, 6-2 victory on Court 4 to earn the first spot in the championship.
 
Columbia jumped out to an early lead over Penn in the final match of the day after taking the doubles point, and Gayarthi Krishnan gave the Lions a 2-0 edge after a singles win on Court 2. Esha Velaga tallied Penn’s first point after a quick win in the top flight, but Margaret Hui earned Columbia’s third point of the match with a victory in #6 singles.
 
Sarah Wang and Joleen Saw pulled the Quakers even with wins on Courts 3 and 4, paving the way for Varsha Vedula to land the clinching point after holding on in three sets on Court 5.

Princeton and Cornell will now play for fifth place on Sunday, while Harvard and Dartmouth will battle for seventh. Both matches are set to begin at 8:00 a.m. EST.
 
Brown and Columbia will meet in the third-place match at 11:00 a.m, while Yale and Penn will face off in the championship final at 2:00 p.m.

Saturday Results
#4 Princeton def. #1 Harvard 4-1 (Consolation Bracket)
  • Doubles (3, 2)
    1. Yakoff/Karra (Harvard) vs. Zhang/Driscoll (Princeton) unfinished
    2. Chhiv/Elbaz (Princeton) def. Block/Rajaram (Harvard) 6-4
    3. Urata/Ferlito (Princeton) def. Shao/Kim (Harvard) 6-1
 
  • Singles (3, 6, 4, 2)
    1. Ferlito (Princeton) vs. Yakoff (Harvard) unfinished
    2. Chhiv (Princeton) def. Karra (Harvard) 6-4, 6-2  
    3. Elbaz (Princeton) def. Rajaram (Harvard) 6-0, 6-2
    4. Shao (Harvard) def. Jessup (Princeton) 6-3, 6-2
    5. Fedotova (Princeton) vs. Serghi (Harvard) unfinished
    6. Zhang (Princeton) def. Kim (Harvard) 6-1, 6-0
 
#6 Cornell def. #7 Dartmouth 4-3 (Consolation Bracket)
  • Doubles (2, 1)
    1. Moore/Capuano (Dartmouth) def. Zhao/Marica (Cornell) 6-2
    2. Grosjean/Orlins (Dartmouth) def. Ryndin/Loudon (Cornell) 6-3
    3. Baker/Gelber (Cornell) vs. Wong/Lombardi (Dartmouth) unfinished
 
  • Singles (6, 4, 1, 3, 5, 2)
    1. Capuano (Dartmouth) def. Ryndin (Cornell) 6-0, 6-3
    2. Loudon (Cornell) def. Moore (Dartmouth) 7-6, 3-6, 6-4
    3. Zhao (Cornell) def. Orlins (Dartmouth) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
    4. Gelber (Cornell) def. Han (Dartmouth) 6-2, 6-3
    5. Martinez (Cornell) def. Lombardi (Dartmouth) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
    6. Grosjean (Dartmouth) def. Fan (Cornell) 6-0, 6-1
 
#5 Yale def. #8 Brown 4-0 (Championship Semifinal)
  • Doubles (3, 1)
    1. Ogilvy/Friedman (Yale) def. Shen/Ben-Abraham (Brown) 6-1
    2. Lee/Qin (Brown) vs. Ha/Huang (Yale) unfinished
    3. Aggarwal/Werdiger (Yale) def. Maguy/Moody (Brown) 6-1
 
  • Singles (3, 5, 4)
    1. Maguy (Brown) vs. Ogilvy (Yale) unfinished
    2. Shen (Brown) vs. Freidman (Yale) unfinished
    3. Werdiger (Yale) def. Ben-Abraham (Brown) 6-3, 6-3
    4. Aggarwal (Yale) def. Lee (Brown) 7-5, 6-2
    5. Huang (Yale) def. Woo (Brown) 6-2, 6-4
    6. Yang (Brown) vs. Lee (Yale) unfinished  
 
#2 Penn def. #3 Columbia 4-3 (Championship Semifinal)
  • Doubles (1, 2)
    1. El Allami/Yin (Columbia) def. Velaga/Motlagh (Penn) 6-0
    2. Krishnan/Lin (Columbia) def. Urata/Saw (Penn) 6-2
    3. Baek/Wang (Columbia) vs. Vedula/Stojanovski (Penn) unfinished
 
  • Singles (2, 1, 6, 3, 4, 5)
    1. Velaga (Penn) def El Allami (Columbia) 7-5, 6-1
    2. Krishnan (Columbia) def. Urata (Penn) 6-0, 6-1
    3. Wang (Penn) def Stojanovski (Columbia) 6-4, 7-5
    4. Saw (Penn) def. Baek (Columbia) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
    5. Vedula (Penn) def. Yin (Columbia) 7-6, 4-6, 6-4
    6. Hui (Columbia) def. Motlagh (Penn) 6-2, 7-6