The Amherst women’s tennis team traveled to Williams’ Hunt Tennis Courts on Saturday, Sept. 23rd, to battle longstanding archrival and perennial NESCAC power. The Mammoths, coming off a successful start to the season last weekend, seemed prepared to challenge the defending league champions in its first dual meet of the season (and only dual meet of the fall). However, the team fell short to the Ephs, 7-2, in a match that was closer than a casual glance at the scoreline would indicate.
In doubles play, the first-seeded Amherst duo, Kelsey Chen ’19 and Vickie Ip ’18, fell in a hard-fought match against Williams’ Juli Raventos and Julia Cancio, 9-7. Anya Ivenitsky ’20 and Avery Wagman ’18 also suffered a loss in the No. 2 spot to Chloe Henderson and Rachel Cross, 8-2.
Despite the losses at the top of the doubles ladder, Camille Smukler ’20 and Maddie Dewire ’20 won, 8-3, over Sasha Cayward and Mia Gancayco in the third doubles match.
Amherst headed into singles play trailing 1-2, needing four out of the six singles matches to come out on top.
Smukler continued her winning streak from her doubles match, winning a thrilling match in straight sets against Raventos, 7-6, 5-3. Unfortunately for the purple and white, this would be the team’s lone singles success in the counted matches.
On the next court, Chen fell short to Cross, 6-1, 6-2, while Ip fell against Leah Bush, 6-4, 6-3. Dewire suffered a three-set loss to Cayward, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, on the fourth court. Williams grabbed another victory with Henderson snatching the match over Ivenitsky, 7-6(2), 6-7(5), 10-4.
Amherst and Williams also competed in three singles matches that largely featured younger members of the team. In these matches, it was much of the same for Amherst, with the Mammoths losing all three matches despite hard-fought competition.
Despite the lack of success in this weekend’s match, Amherst looks to come back from this loss with a strong series of performances in the coming weeks. The Mammoths return to Williams to compete in the three-day ITA Regional Championships this weekend, Sept. 29 to Oct. 1.
