Columbia Wins Second-Straight ECAC Women's Indoor Tennis Title
BRACKET
By Ryan Simmons
NEW YORK, N.Y. – After three days of hard-fought competition, fourth-seed Columbia prevailed over No. 3 Yale, 4-3, in an epic match to earn the 2020 ECAC Women’s Indoor Tennis Championship - the Lions’ second-straight ECAC title.
The Bulldogs controlled the contest in the early going after snatching the doubles point.
Samantha Martinelli and Jessie Gong teamed up to defeat Columbia’s Akanksha Bhan and Paulina Ferrari 6-1, while Caroline Dunleavy and Rhea Shrivashava combined to beat Jennifer Kerr and Shivani Amineni.
The Lions charged back in singles play.
Melissa Sakar handed Columbia its first point of the match with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Yale’s Dunleavy. However, the Bulldogs regained the lead with a point from Chelsea Kung’s 7-6, 6-2 defeat of Jennifer Kerr.
Julia Haynes pulled the Lions even again with a hard-fought 6-4, 7-6, 6-4 victory over Shrivastava. Bhan then put Columbia ahead by a point with another 3-set win 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 over Martinelli.
Yale did not go quietly, though. Rena Lin turned in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win against Michelle Xu to knot the score at 3 points each with one to play.
Columbia’s Amineni and Yale’s Raissa Lou would battle through 3 set to decide the contest. When the dust settled, Amineni would prevail 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 to give the title to the Lions
The day began with a battle for Seventh Place with No. 8 Cornell defeating No. 6 UMass, 4-0.
The Big Red came out of the chute hot, earning the doubles point and taking an early lead in the match. The pairing of Sarah Campbell and Ashley Huang picked up a 6-1 win over UMass’ Ashley Avery and Jovana Bogicevic. Fatima El Ashram and Michelle Deng combined to knock off Jasmin Tripathy and Sarah Mezini to finish off the point.
In singles, Cornell kept rolling. Deng continued her strong play, defeating Avery 6-1, 6-0 and El Ashram added another point by overcoming Bogicevic 6-2, 6-4. Campbell turned in a win over Tripathy to complete the match and give her squad a 4-0 win.
The second match of the day saw No. 7 Dartmouth upend No. 5 Brown 4-1 for Fifth Place in the tournament.
Dartmouth captured the doubles point to take the early match lead. The Big Green got wins from the pairings of Nicole Conard/Abigail Chiu and Allison McCann/Racquel Lyn over Devon Jack/Courtney Kowalsky and Julia Newman/Ryan Peus respectively.
In singles action, Chidimma Okpara scored a 6-1, 6-2 win for Dartmouth over Newman.
Brown would rally, however, behind a 6-4, 7-6 Britany Lau victory over Catherine Cable to pull within one point.
Dartmouth slammed the door from there, though, getting wins from Ashley Hess over Peus and McCann over Peri Sheinin.
The tournament’s top seed, Harvard, finished in third place after a 4-1 victory over No. 2 Penn.
The Crimson drew first blood in the match by grabbing the doubles point. The team of Natasha Gonzalez and Rachel Lim defeated Penn’s Amanda Chan and Sonia Tartakovsky 6-4. Kayla Leschley and Mihaela Marculescu combined to knock off Carolyn Xie and Ashley Zhu 6-3 to finish the doubles portion.
In singles play, Lim started the proceedings for Harvard with a 6-2, 6-2 win over the Quakers’ Gibson Thomas. Harvard’s Rachel Eason then picked up a 6-2, 6-3 win over Marija Curnic.
Penn finally got into the win column behind Iuliia Bryzgalova’s 6-3, 6-1 win over the Crimson’s Jenna Friedel, but the match came to a conclusion when Harvard’s Eason defeated Curnic 6-2, 6-3 to seal the victory.
#8 Cornell 4, #6 UMass 0
Doubles
1. Napadiy/Bocchi (UM) vs. Ho/Adiaconitei (C) DNF (4-2)
2. Campbell/Huang (C) def. Avery/Bogicevic (UM) 6-1
3. El Ashram/Deng (C) def. Tripathy/Mezini (UM) 6-1
Singles
1. Anna Napadiy (UM) vs. Valerie Ho (C) DNF (4-6, 2-4)
2. Martina Bocchi (UM) vs. Maria Adiaconitei (C) DNF (6-3, 5-3)
3. Fatima El Ashram (C) def. Jovana Bogicevic (UM) 6-2, 6-4
4. Michell Deng (C) def. Ashley Avery (UM) 6-1, 6-0
5. Sarah Campbell (C) def. Jasmin Tripathy (UM) 6-3, 6-2
6. Sarah Mezini (UM) vs. Khary Pryce (C) DNF (6-1, 5-5)
#7 Dartmouth 4, #5 Brown 1
Doubles
1. Conrad/Chiu (D) def. Jack/Kowalsky (B) 6-3
2. McCann/Lynn (D) def. Newman/Peus (B) 6-1
3. Lau/Dellacono (B) vs. Okpara/Cable (D) DNF (5-4)
Singles
1. Courtney Kowalsky (B) vs. Nicole Conard (D) DNF (5-7, 6-3, 4-3)
2. Devon Jack (B) vs. Racquel Lyn (D) DNF (2-6, 6-3, 4-5)
3. Britany Lau (B) def. Catherine Cable (D) 6-4, 7-6
4. Chidimma Okpara (D) def. Julia Newman (6-1, 6-2)
5. Ashely Hess (D) def. Ryan Peus (B) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
6. Allison McCann (D) def. Peri Sheinin (B) 7-6, 6-0
#1 Harvard 4, #2 Penn 1
Doubles
1. Friedel/Eason (H) vs. Bryzgalova/Curnic (P) DNF (2-5)
2. Gonzalez/Lim (H) def. Chan/Tartakovsky (P) 6-4
3. Leschly/Marculescu (H) def. Xie/Zhu (P) 6-3
Singles
1. Iuliia Bryzgalova (P) def. Jenna Friedel (H) 6-3, 6-1
2. Sophia Ho (H) vs. Ashley Zhu (P) DNF (6-7, 1-3)
3. Rachel Eason (H) def. Marija Curnic (P) 6-2, 6-3
4. Mihaela Marculescu (H) def. Carolyn Xie (P) 7-6, 6-2
5. Rachel Lim (H) def. Gibson Thomas (P) 6-2, 6-2
6. Lexi Milunovich (H) vs. Clarise Huang (P) DNF (7-5, 1-6, 1-1)
#4 Columbia 4, #3 Yale 3
Doubles
1. Martinelli/Gong (Y) def. Bhan/Ferrari (C) 6-1
2. Sakar/Haynes (C) vs. Kung/Lin (Y) DNF (3-5)
3. Dunleavy/Shrivastava (Y) def. Kerr/Amineni (C) 6-3
Singles
1. Akanksha Bhan (C) def. Samantha Martinelli (Y) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
2. Chelsea Kung (Y) def. Jennifer Kerr (C) 7-6, 6-2
3. Melissa Sakar (C) def. Caroline Dunleavy (Y) 6-3, 6-4
4. Rena Lin (Y) def. Michelle Xu (C) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
5. Shivani Amineni (C) def. Raissa Lou 1-6, 7-6, 6-4
6. Julia Haynes (C) def. Rhea Shrivastava (Y) 6-4, 7-6, 6-4