Written by Ben Lable, Athletic Communications Student Intern
MEDFORD, MA (April 11, 2026) - The No. 20 Tufts University women's tennis team returned to Medford after splitting two matches last weekend. The Jumbos welcomed the No. 15 Williams Ephs to the Vouté Tennis Courts as they began the final stretch of the regular season, playing their last five matches at home. After falling in doubles to the Ephs, Tufts rebounded to earn a 5-2 victory Saturday.
Tufts has historically struggled against Williams, holding a 15-42 all-time record, including a 38-match losing streak from 1992 to 2018. Recently, however, the Brown and Blue have been more competitive, winning four of the last seven contests. Last year, with the match tied at 3-3,
Ellie Gershaw fought through a deciding third set to clinch the win for the Jumbos. Entering today's match, Tufts held the No. 5 seed in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), with Williams right behind them at No. 6.
The Ephs put themselves in the driver's seat for the doubles point after Ahn Lin and Julia Zhang defeated
Lucy Mitchell and
Rachel Cranley 6-1 at No. 1 doubles. The next match to finish was at No. 2 doubles, where
Ellie Gershaw and
Ryan Wuhrman were in a tight battle with Mia Thomann and Ayanna Varma, leading 4-3 on serve. The Jumbos broke serve and closed out the set 6-3, making No. 3 doubles the deciding match.
Melanie Woodbury and
Claudia Grove trailed 5-4, with Katelyn Wu and Jane Ladaga serving for the set. The Tufts pair broke serve to even the match at 5-5, but fell in the tiebreak 7-6 (7-4), giving the Ephs a 1-0 lead.
Gershaw was first to finish in singles at No. 4, defeating Wu 6-2, 6-1 in just over an hour. Shortly after,
Kyra McCandless earned a win at No. 6 singles against Ladaga. After taking a competitive first set 6-4, McCandless dominated the second set 6-0 to give the Jumbos a 2-1 lead.
Athena Li secured the third point of the day for Tufts with a win over Margaux Molyneux at No. 5 singles. She took the first set 6-1 but dropped the second 6-4. In the deciding third set, Li responded with a 6-3 victory.
At No. 1 singles, Mitchell clinched the match for the Jumbos with a three-set win over Thomann. Mitchell dominated the first set 6-0, but Thomann responded by taking the second set 7-5. In a tightly contested third set, Mitchell broke serve at 4-3 and closed it out 6-4.
Cranley added another point at No. 2 singles, defeating Varma in three sets. After dropping the first set 6-3, Cranley rallied to win the next two sets 6-4, 6-2.
The final match to finish was at No. 3 singles between Woodbury and Zhang. Woodbury won a tight first set in a tiebreak, but Zhang responded with a 6-4 second set win. The match was decided in another tiebreak at 6-6 in the third set, where Zhang prevailed 7-6 (10-8).
With the win, the Jumbos improve to 10-3 overall and 5-2 in conference play. Tufts returns to action tomorrow, hosting the No. 12 Middlebury Panthers in another key NESCAC match-up. The Jumbos are currently on a five-match losing streak against the Panthers, making tomorrow a strong opportunity to turn the tide.
ORDER OF FINISH: 1, 2, 3
SINGLES: 4, 6, 5, 1, 2, 3
--JUMBOS--
