As the women’s fall tennis season comes to an end, sophomore Jordan Brewer and senior Laura Danzig must be feeling pretty good about themselves. After three tournaments and a dual match this fall, the doubles tandem emerged perfect, posting a sterling 11-0 record. They most recently captured the New England Women’s Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament (NEWITT) title this past weekend.
The weekend before, the duo won the fifth-annual Gail Smith Doubles Tournament at Middlebury, after having notched an ITA/Regional Doubles Tournament win this season.
En route to their title at the Gail Smith Doubles Tournament, a round-robin tournament hosting 30 doubles teams from eight schools in eight different draws. Brewer and Danzig beat Arielle Leben and Elizabeth Gerber of Trinty and Hannah Hoerner and Susannah Howard of Bowdoin to win their draw.
From there, the duo beat Skidmore’s Zoe Valella and Yumi Karlsheoej before earning a spot in the finals with an 8-6 win over Middlebury’s Tori Aiello and Leah Kepping. Brewer and Danzig took down another Middlebury duo in the finals, upending Sally Wilkey and Lok Sze Leung 8-6 to win.
Also posting an impressive record in the tournament were sophomores Jen Newman and Zoe Pangalos, who took fourth overall after falling to a Middlebury duo 7-9 in the match for third place.
This past weekend, Brewer and Danzig took the Gail Smith ‘A’ Flight crown at the NEWITT to top off the fall season. The tournament, a unique blend of singles and doubles play, pits doubles pairs against each other as a team and individually, with a total of three points up for grabs in each match. Brewer and Danzig earned two 3-0 victories, beating the top pairs from Roger Williams and Tufts in both doubles and singles play.
After rolling into the semifinals, the dominant duo secured a spot in the finals with doubles and singles wins over Ephs’ Kristin Alotta and Rebecca Curran. In the finals, Brewer and Danzig beat Williams’ second pair, Maria Pylypiv and Kathleen Elkins, again by a 3-0 margin.
Amherst’s No. 2 doubles pair, Pangalos and Newman, continued their impressive season by reaching the quarterfinals after beating the top duos from Springfield and Trinity, though they would eventually fall to Ephs Pylpiv and Elkins, 2-1.
Brewer and Danzig are no strangers to collegiate tennis success, as Brewer won last year’s Gail Smith Doubles Tournament with Gabby Devlin ’14, and Danzig took the same title in 2009. The level of success from such a young team, highlighted by the undefeated Brewer and Danzig machine, is very impressive.
With a long New England winter separating Brewer and Danzig from continuing their doubles domination, their return to the court this spring should be an exciting one.
