SAN ANTONIO — Sophomore Emma Kesterson played on against junior Megan Flores while members of the Southwestern and Trinity University women's tennis teams watched from the sidelines.
Kesterson moved with an energetic bounce in her step that belied a calmness in her demeanor, playing in her first SCAC Tournament with tennis stakes that couldn't be higher.
The surrounding tennis courts at the Butch Newman Tennis Center had long since cleared. The first eight matches between Southwestern and Trinity left no separation between the two regional powerhouses, sitting deadlocked in a 4-4 tie with only one court in play.
Battling from the third line, Kesterson lost her first set 6-4, then recovered to even the match with a 7-5 second set. She carried that momentum to breeze through the third set to clinch her match and the championship with a 6-2 win to give Southwestern a 5-4 victory, throwing her tennis racket down in triumph as her teammates stormed the court to celebrate the program's first conference championship.
"Incredible. It's been eight long years and we finally got into a position where we could win one of these four years ago," head coach Billy Porter said. "We were favored like three years ago and came up on the short end. It just makes today that much sweeter. Absolutely incredible."
Just two weeks earlier, Southwestern picked up its first dual match doubles point against Trinity in head coach Billy Porter's long tenure. It marked the first time in program history the Southwestern women's tennis team defeated Trinity, sweeping singles to win 7-2.
"It helped coming two weeks ago to get this match in. We told them if they were going to do it again, it's going to be a lot harder, and it certainly was," Porter said. "Getting that rep in two weeks ago helped us in this big moment."
Southwestern built on that doubles performance with a pair of wins in Sunday's championship match. After winning their first-ever match as a doubles team on Friday, Nina Mitrofanova and Mariana Quetzeri opened the contest with an 8-3 victory over Zoe Kaffen and Mary Kaffen, the fifth-ranked doubles team in the West Region, in No. 2 doubles.
Trinity's Catherine Cushing and Megan Flores, the second-ranked doubles tandem in the region, evened the match with an 8-3 win over Esther Bowers and Taylor Despriet in the top line of doubles.
Alli Ziehm and Kesterson, the duo that first put a crack in Trinity's doubles armor two weeks earlier, built on that performance with an 8-4 win to give Southwestern a 2-1 lead heading into singles.
Showing the grit that had put them atop the conference for most of the past decade, Trinity stormed back with a win in No. 2 singles with Cushing besting Bowers 6-3, 6-4. Southwestern responded with wins in No. 5 and 6 singles, buying a little breathing room. Sydney Wahl defeated Elodie Richard 7-5, 6-1 in the fifth line to remain undefeated at 14-0. Ziehm scored a 6-4, 6-3 win over Paulina Garcia in the sixth line.
Zoe Kaffen upset Mitrofanova, the region's top-ranked player, with a 6-4, 6-1 win in the top spot. Her sister, Mary Kaffen, tied the match with a three-set victory over Nina Elez in the fourth line, winning 6-0, 4-6, 6-1.
Facing Flores for the first time, Kesterson battled back from her first-set loss to unseat Trinity University as conference champion after the Tigers had dominated the SCAC with eight consecutive conference titles.
"Emma has played a lot of tennis. She comes from a big tennis family," Porter said. "I knew she was prepared, not only from what we worked on but her whole upbringing, the way she's trained, her commitment to the game. There really isn't anyone else you'd want in a moment like that other than Emma Kesterson.
Southwestern improved to 15-4 overall, including 14-0 against NCAA Division III opponents. With their first SCAC Championship, the Pirates earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, which will be played May 14-16.