BRUNSWICK, ME (April 27, 2025) – On Sunday, the No. 14 Tufts women's tennis team traveled to Maine to take on the No. 8 Bowdoin Polar Bears. Tufts had done well against Bowdoin in recent matchups, winning five of the last six meetings. It was an important match for both teams as they looked to improve their seeding ahead of next week's New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championships.
The Jumbos got off to an early start in doubles as
Brooklyn Bindas and
Athena Li wrapped up their No. 3 doubles match in just 27 minutes, defeating Julia Ross and Cara Hung 6-2. No. 2 doubles swung the momentum back in Bowdoin's favor, as Isabella Hartung and Zoe Sun took down
Lucy Mitchell and
Ryan Wuhrman 6-3. The deciding match for the doubles point came down to Tufts' No. 1 pair,
Sophie Wax and
Natalie Hu, who were narrowly edged out by Jamilah Karah and Caroline Stuhlfaut 7-5, giving the Polar Bears a 1-0 lead.
At No. 3 singles,
Rachel Cranley faced a tough match-up against Karah. Despite her best efforts, Cranley struggled to find her rhythm against her opponent's powerful play. Karah controlled the pace from the start, ultimately beating Cranley in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0.
Lucy Mitchell was one of two Jumbos to win a singles match, beating Ross at No. 4 singles. She won 6-1, 6-3, improving to a 10-4 record this season.
At No. 1 singles,
Melanie Woodbury battled Hung in a highly competitive match. She pushed Hung to the limit in the opening set, narrowly falling 7-5. In the second set, Woodbury continued to compete with intensity but fell 6-2.
Ellie Gershaw lost to Suzanne Pogorelec at No. 2 singles in straight sets. Both sets were tight, as Gershaw only had her serve broken once per set, but that was enough for her to fall 6-4, 6-3.No. 6 singles followed a similar trend as Hu also lost in straight sets to Sun, 6-4, 6-1.
Li produced Tufts' second point of the match versus Hartung at No. 5 singles. After losing the first set 6-4, she battled back to win the second 6-2, sending the match to a ten-point match tiebreaker, where she ultimately came out on top 11-9.
It was a tough outing for the Jumbos, who fell to a 15-5 record on the season. Next Friday at 9 a.m., they will play the No. 13 Amherst Mammoths in the NESCAC Championship quarterfinals.
--JUMBOS--
