CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The momentum of the Southwestern women's tennis team's historic first NCAA Tournament run crashed against the experience of a program seeking its eighth national championship, ending in a 5-0 loss to Emory University in the quarterfinals.
Emory started strong for a quick 2-0 lead, opening with an 8-1 victory by NCAA qualifiers Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico and Katie Chang over Esther Bowers and Taylor Despriet in No. 1 doubles, and continuing with Stephanie Taylor and Christina Watson handing Nina Mitrofanova and Mariana Quetzeri their first defeat with an 8-2 win.
Alli Ziehm and Emma Kesterson played valiantly, battling Lauren Yoon and Ana Cristina Perez to a 4-4 tie before Emory reeled off four consecutive points to sweep doubles with an 8-4 win from the No. 3 position.
"Emma and Alli played with confidence and energy," Head Women's Tennis Coach Billy Porter says. "Emory just played the big points a bit better."
Southwestern faced a daunting task in singles facing an Emory lineup with two NCAA singles qualifiers in Gonzalez-Rico and Watson.
The duo bested Southwestern's two All-Americans with Mitrofanova, Southwestern's NCAA qualifier, falling 6-1, 6-1 to Gonzalez-Rico, and Watson defeating Bowers 6-3, 6-1. Emory led in each of the four unfinished matches, though Kesterson provided a good fight in the third flight, forcing Taylor into a tiebreaker in the first set, falling 7-5, then playing to a 4-4 tie in the second set when the match ended.
"We settled down in the second sets in singles and began to find our comfort zone," Porter says. "Unfortunately, it was just a little too late."
Southwestern wraps up the greatest season in program history with a 17-5 record. This season, the Pirates swept Trinity for the first time, unseating the Tigers after eight years atop the SCAC in the championship match to claim Southwestern's first conference title. The Pirates followed that with wins over Millsaps and Washington-St. Louis to advance to the Elite 8 in their first NCAA Tournament appearance.
"I couldn't be happier for our seniors, Mariana, Esther, and Nina Elez, to finish their careers in the Elite 8," Porter says. "We are so grateful for everything they've done for our program."