The Emory women’s tennis team wrapped up their fall season in Rome, Ga. on Oct. 18 with a decent outing at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Cup. The doubles pair of junior Defne Olcay and sophomore Emma Cartledge highlighted the Eagles’ performances with a quarterfinals appearance.
“The team was ready to compete and excited to be invited to the ITA Cup,” Olcay said. “Everyone did a good job of focusing on the process and competing as best as they could.”
In singles play, freshman Alexa Goetz reached the quarterfinals with a three-set comeback win over University of Chicago’s sophomore Nicole Semenov 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. Unfortunately, Goetz’s run was halted in the round of eight with a loss to Claremont-Mudd Scripps-Colleges’ (CMS) (Calif.) senior Catherine Allen in straight sets 6-1, 6-3. On the other side of the bracket, Cartledge dropped her first-round match to CMS freshman Justine Leong 6-0, 6-3, but bounced back to defeat Bethel College’s (Ind.) Grace Riermann 6-4, 6-3 in the consolation round.
In doubles play, Olcay and Cartledge obtained a first-round victory in straight sets against Kenyon College’s (Ohio) duo of junior Erika Oku and sophomore Daria Beshentseva 6-2, 6-2. Olcay and Cartledge were defeated 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals by Kristina Yu and Sophie Henderson, sophomores from Wesleyan University (Conn.). The pair rebounded in the consolation bracket, taking down Trinity University’s (Texas) senior duo of twins Zoe and Mary Kaffen 6-7 (4), 6-4, 10-7. Goetz and sophomore Christina Watson failed to advance to the second round, as they lost to the top-ranked seed of CMS’ Allen and Leong 6-1, 6-3.
Olcay felt that the fall season went by quickly, but expressed the importance of gaining experience in preparation for the spring season.
“Our fall season this year was relatively shorter, but we still got great matches in and gained confidence through match play,” Olcay said. “I think everyone is excited and ready to compete as a team in the spring.”
Assistant Coach Barbora Krtickova echoed Olcay and looks to translate the experience the team gained during the fall season into victories in the spring.
“We had some good results [in the fall] and worked on a lot of the basic stuff, building up to being able to compete on the highest level [in the spring],” said Krtickova.
The Eagles will enjoy four months off before beginning the spring season on Feb. 12 at Georgia Gwinnett College.
