SWARTHMORE, Pa. - Playing in the Centennial Conference semifinals on Saturday night with a spot in Sunday's Centennial Conference final on the line, the Haverford College women's tennis team (12-7) was upended by host Swarthmore by a 5-3 final. The action at the Michael Mullan Tennis Center indoors on the Swarthmore campus lasted well into the night, with Haverford battling back from a 3-0 doubles hole before Swarthmore took control.
Haverford, the ninth-ranked squad in the Atlantic South, looked strong in doubles with the third pairing of Mimi Lavin and Summer Williams pushing Spencer Watts and Oviya Kumaran to the brink before falling in a tiebreak. The top-flight pairing of Anne Tobin and Rachael Fitzgerald also fell by an 8-3 final while Abbey Russano and Ellie Esterowitz were defeated by that same 8-3 decision,
Taking the 3-0 lead into singles, Swarthmore surrendered an early point in singles as Fitzgerald earned a win by default as Nathalie Williams was forced to retire at the second singles flight due to injury. Kumaran later gave Swarthmore a chance to move to the brink of clinch, as she outlasted Esterowitz capturing a three-set thriller at the fourth flight (6-1, 2-6, 6-1).
Mimi Lavin then looked strong in her sweep of Sonia Varma at the third flight, winning 7-6, 6-0 to pull Haverford to within two points. Russano then showed great poise with her comeback victory over Jenny Lewis at the top flight. Russano, the Atlantic South's No. 21 player, dropped the first set by a 6-0 final, but rattled off 6-1, and 6-2 victories to claim a huge point for the Fords down just one at 4-3.
The last two matches on the court featured Anne Tobin against Spencer Watts at number six singles and Summer Williams against Crystal Xu at number five. With those late-night matches happening simultaneously, it was Tobin grabbing the upper hand with her first-set victory while Williams was edged by Xu in the first frame. Xu was able to complete a 6-2 win for the clinch in the second while Tobin and Watts were still in the early stages of their second set at number six.
The Garnet will travel to take on No. 26 Johns Hopkins in Saturday's CC championship match on Sunday in Baltimore. That match is slated for 3 p.m.
Haverford will now await the release of the NCAA tournament field on Monday afternoon, with a chance for some at-large individual selections on the table. The Fords also turn towards the release of the Centennial Conference postseason awards, which are slated to be unveiled next week.