The women's tennis team won all three of its matches in Brunswick, Maine, taking down a trio of ranked teams by beating Middlebury College, Amherst College and host Bowdoin College this weekend. Emory entered the weekend as the second ranked team nationally and by beating three highly regarded teams, did nothing to harm their ranking. The team's record after the weekend sweep is now 18-2, and the women continued their unbeaten streak against Division III opposition through 12 matches thus far.
Emory commenced their weekend of competition against eighth-ranked Middlebury College on Friday.
The Eagles got off to a fast start from the doubles matches, as senior-freshman teams led to victories in number one and number three doubles.
In number one doubles, senior Gabrielle Clark and freshman Michelle Satterfield won the first point of the match for Emory in a strong 8-1 victory. Senior Brenna Kelly and freshman Michelle Goodman won the number three doubles event in a 8-6 set, and sophomore Beatrice Rosen, playing with freshman Katarina Su, won by the same score in number two doubles.
The Eagles were not content with their dominance in the doubles portion of the matchup, and continued to sweep the singles portion as well, 6-0. The singles matches included an efficient victory from Clark, the number one singles player, who won her match quickly in two sets, 6-0, 6-3. Satterfield, in the three singles game, swept her Middlebury opponent 6-0, 6-0 in two sets.
Head Coach Amy Bryant's team picked right up from the Middlebury match against fourth-ranked Amherst College, as they would again sweep the doubles matches to jump out to an early 3-0 lead.
The Eagles once again capitalized on their strong start and finished the singles matches with a 8-1 lead over their highly-ranked opponents from Amherst.
The doubles pairings remained untouched, resulting in 8-2, 8-6 and 8-6 victories for the number one, two and three doubles teams.
The victory by the number one doubles team consisting of Satterfield and Clark was Clark's 100th doubles win in her Emory career. Clark is the third Eagle to accomplish such a feat, and if she wins five more doubles matches will break the school record set by Zahra Dawson.
Clark, the southeast region's top player, would go on to defeat Jordan Brewer, her Northeast region counterpart in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3.
Katarina Su's victory was her 20th of the season, making her the second member of the team behind Satterfield to reach that plateau in 2013-14.
The final match of the weekend proved to be the most challenging for Emory, as they narrowly edged out seventh-ranked Bowdoin College 5-4. For the first time all weekend, the Eagles did not earn an advantage in the doubles events, winning only number one doubles, as the team of Clark and Satterfield won their closest match of the weekend 8-5.
Going into the singles matches down 2-1 put pressure on the team to perform, but wins from Clark, Rosen, Goodman and Su were enough to secure victory.
Tiffany Chang, the number one singles player from Bowdoin, forced the usually dominant Gabrielle Clark into a tiebreaker, one that the Emory student-athlete would win 7-3. Melissa Goodman won her number four matchup in an impressive 6-0, 6-0 performance.
While the win against Bowdoin was closer than the other matches this weekend, it secured a perfect weekend for a team that is beginning to heat up, winning its past six meets, most of which have been against ranked opponents.
Success on a large scale is nothing new for the women's tennis team, as they placed second at the NCAA Division III championships last year, and have won five titles in the history of the program.
The Eagles will look to continue their good form against Brenau University at home on April 15 as they look to add a sixth trophy to the case.
- By Oliver Rockman
Eagles Continue Dominance in Maine
Courtesy of Emory Athletics
Freshamn Katarina Su delivers a shot for the Eagles. Playing in the number two doubles slot with sophomore Beatrice Rosen, Su defeated a doubles squad from Middlebury and one from Amherst 8-6, and lost to a Bowdoin doubles team 8-5 over the weekend. The women's tennis team is ranked second in the country.
