Amherst women’s tennis won four of five on their California road trip, only dropping a 5-4 decision to Div. I Cal State Fullerton. The Jeffs entered the week ranked fourth in Div. III and picked up 6-3 wins over No. 5 Claremont Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer, and swept both Concordia and Whitman, 9-0. Seniors Gabby Devlin and Jordan Brewer won all five of their matches at the top of the doubles lineup.
The third-ranked Amherst women’s tennis team opened its spring season with a dual match 9-0 sweep of 17th-ranked MIT.
The Jeffs’ no. 1 doubles team, seniors Gabby Devlin and Jordan Brewer, coasted to an 8-1 victory over MIT seniors Lauren Quisenberry and Julia Hsu. On the no. 2 court, two more seniors, Jen Newman and Zoe Pangalos, earned a 9-8 (4) tiebreak victory over the Engineers’ duo of Elysa Kohrs and Victoria Tam.
Women
Led by another excellent performance from senior Naomi Bates, the women’s indoor track team won the ECAC championships last weekend. The Jeffs’ 38 points were just enough to hold off the MIT women, who collected 36.5 points.
Bates won the long jump and set a meet record in the process, posting a mark of 5.85 meters. She also took fourth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.81 seconds. Karen Blake ’17 edged out Bates for third, also recording a time of 7.81. Blake’s semifinal time of 7.75 seconds set a program record.
As usual, the Amherst women’s tennis team will open the season with lofty expectations. Over the last ten years, Coach Jackie Bagwell’s squad has captured eight NESCAC championships, as well as advancing to at least the NCAA semifinals eight times. Bagwell, who is entering her 23rd year at the helm, has compiled a dual meet record of 358-72, and also guided the team to an NCAA championship in 1999. Last year’s team put together an impressive 21-3 record, but fell just short of the NESCAC and NCAA titles, losing to Williams in the NESCAC championship and Emory in the NCAA semifinals.
Thanks to senior Matt Melton’s third place finish in the 400-meters, the Amherst men’s track team took 27th in the field of 37 teams that competed in the NEICAAA Championships. The meet, also known as the All New Englands, included athletes from Div. I, II and III, but Melton’s time of 47.91 seconds was good enough to beat everyone but Rhode Island sophomore Kebba Nasso and Southern Connecticut State senior Logan Sharpe. The time was also the fastest in Div. III this year.
Championship season started this weekend for the Amherst indoor tracks teams, as both the men and women participated in the New England Div. III Championships.
Women
The women’s championships took place held at Springfield College, and the Jeffs, led by record-setting performances from Naomi Bates ’14 and Kiana Herold ’17, finished fourth overall in a field of 28 teams.
Men
Amherst men’s track turned in a solid all-around performance this Saturday at the Tufts Invitational, led by several impressive middle and long distance times.
