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Becca Kimmel's win at #5 singles tied the match 3-3 for Tufts at the time
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WILLIAMSTOWN - Playing in the opening round of the NESCAC Women's Tennis Championship at Williams College on Friday morning, Tufts and Bowdoin engaged in a terrific battle that came down to the last match. The Polar Bears advanced, 5-4.
Bowdoin improves to 11-7 and moves on to the semi-finals Saturday at 9 am against #1 seed Williams. Tufts, now 8-10 overall, is eliminated from NESCAC's and will hold out hope for an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament.
The Polar Bears came out of doubles play leading 2-1. The Jumbo #1 pair of Lindsay Katz (Baltimore, MD) and Shelci Bowman (Dallas, TX) earned an 8-4 victory to give Tufts a 1-0 lead.However, Bowdoin's #2 Emma Chow and Chantelle Lavertu won 8-3, and Emily Lombardi and Kate Winingham were 8-6 winners in third doubles to give the Polar Bears an advantage.
Bowdoin took a 3-1 lead as Winingham won 6-2, 6-1 in second singles. The Jumbos battled back with wins at #4 by Samantha Gann (Massapequa, NY) and by Rebecca Kimmel (Longmeadow, MA) at #5. Both won in straight sets to tie the match 3-3.
The teams split the #3 and #6 singles matches, with Bowdoin's Lavertu and Tufts' Janice Lam (San Francisco, CA) winning, respectively. Lam took the third set 6-1 to win her match.
That left the #1 match between Kellen Alberstone of Bowdoin and Katz from Tufts to determine the final outcome. Alberstone rolled to a 6-0 victory in the first set, but trailed early in the second. She recovered to win 6-3 and seal the win for Bowdoin.
The match was played indoors at Lansing Champman Rink due to poor weather. Bowdoin had won the regular-season meeting between the teams 8-1.
Match results
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