Haverford and Franklin & Marshall each defended their home courts with convincing victories in the opening round of the Centennial Conference women's tennis tournament on Wednesday. With the victories, the Fords and Diplomats advance to Friday's semifinal round.
Fourth-seeded F&M will take on top-seeded Johns Hopkins while third-seeded Haverford will face off against second-seeded Swarthmore.
In Haverford, Pa., Haverford (11-7) downed Gettysburg (8-7) by a 5-1 score. Due to inclement weather in the area, the singles competition was moved indoors to Alumni Field House after things started outdoors at the Bramall Courts, with doubles play concluding before the skies opened up and rain forced the venue change. The Fords will take on second-seeded No. 23 Swarthmore on Thursday at 4 p.m. on the Swarthmore campus.
In doubles competition, Ellie Esterowitz and Mimi Lavin defeated Gettysburg's Sarah Guistwite and Gillian Rozenfeld 8-3 at the second spot to open the action, while Abhishree Menon and Summer Williams defeated Emma Ward and Elle Brignati 8-2 at the third doubles spot. At the first spot, Gettysburg's Andrea Brazyte and Avery Palandijan defeated Rachael Fitzgerald and Abbey Russano in a marathon, prevailing in a tiebreaker by a final of 8-7 (7-4).
Moving to singles play, Haverford won three of the four matches that were completed indoors. Fitzgerald defeated Palandijan 6-2, 6-1 at the third singles spot, Esterowitz got the better of Brazyte 6-0, 6-4 at the first spot, and Lavin dispatched Rozenfeld 6-0, 7-5 at the fourth spot.
With the win, Haverford has advanced to its fifth consecutive CC semifinals, as the Fords have appeared every year since 2017.
In Lancaster, Pa., F&M (9-8) cruised to a 5-0 sweep over Washington College Wednesday afternoon at the Alumni Sports & Fitness Center.
The Diplomats downed the Shorewomen in all three doubles matches. The pairing of Cassidy Landau and Mackenzie Sherman blanked their opponent, 8-0, in the first doubles match to earn their fifth victory as a duo this season. Jenna Harrison and Clara March Okuyama earned their seventh win of the spring with an 8-1 victory in the No. 2 doubles match. The duo of Rebecca Bellick and Amelia Squires claimed an 8-2 win in the No. 3 doubles match to pick up their seventh victory of the year.
Sherman earned her 10th singles win of the season with a 6-4, 6-1 victory in the No. 3 position. Bellick downed her opponent 6-1, 6-1 in the No. 4 position to pick up her sixth singles victory of the year to secure the win for the Diplomats.
FIRST ROUND: Wednesday, Apr. 26 | at #3 & #4 seeds
#3 Haverford d. #6 Gettysburg at, 5-1
#4 Franklin & Marshall d. #5 Washington College, 5-0
SEMIFINALS: Friday, Apr. 28 | at #1 & #2 seeds
#3 Haverford at #2 Swarthmore, 4 p.m.
#4 Franklin & Marshall at #1 Johns Hopkins, 4 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP: Sunday, Apr. 30 | at highest remaining seed
Semifinal winners, 1 p.m.