MEDFORD, MA (April 19, 2026) – The No. 18 Tufts women's tennis team built on Saturday's win with another big victory against No. 12 Bowdoin College Sunday morning, earning a hard fought 5-2 win.
The Jumbos have compiled an impressive 11-4 overall record this season, including a 6-3 mark in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play. With just two matches remaining in the regular season, Sunday's contest marked Tufts' final NESCAC match-up of the year.
Despite Bowdoin's higher ranking, the Polar Bears entered with an 8-5 overall record, including losses to several top-five teams in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. Historically, the match-up has been closely contested, with Bowdoin holding a narrow 19–18 edge in the all-time series.
Tufts struggled early in the match in doubles as
Ellie Gershaw and
Ryan Wuhrman lost 6-0 to Cara Hung and Suzanne Pogorelec at No. 2 doubles in just 22 minutes. At No. 1 doubles,
Brooklyn Bindas and
Natalie Hu were able to even things up, beating Zoe Sun and Isabella Hartung 6-2. With the doubles point coming down to No. 3 doubles,
Alyssa Khou and
Kyra McCandless remained undefeated on the season as a duo with their 7-5 clinching victory over Naomi Williams and Caroline Stuhlfaut.
As the match turned to singles play, Gershaw was able to bounce back from her doubles loss with a straight-set victory against Hartung at No. 3 singles. Gershaw took the first set 6-3 and was forced into a tiebreak in the second set, which she won 7-6 (7-3), putting the Jumbos up 2-0 in the match.
At No. 2 singles,
Rachel Cranley and Pogorelec duked it out in what ended as a critical three-set battle. Cranley was bested 2-6 in the first set before putting up a 6-2 set of her own. In the third set, Cranley went up 5-3 before Pogorelec stormed back to win the set 7-5.
McCandless moved to 9-2 on the season with her three-set victory over Marie Frati at No. 6 singles. She won the first set 6-2, lost the second set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-2). In the third set, McCandless blanked Frati 6-0 to win the match.
At No. 1 singles,
Lucy Mitchell faced off against Hung in what also turned out to be a tight match-up. Hung was dominant in the first set, taking it 6-4. Mitchell then won the next two sets 6-2 and 7-5 to clinch the match for the Jumbos.
Hu was the next Jumbo to deliver a point as she beat Willow Assante-LaBash 6-2, 6-4 at No. 5 singles. Right behind her
Athena Li was forced into a third set 10-pt match tiebreaker. In the first set Li took the first set 7-6 (2), Sun responded with a 7-5 set of her own. In the 10-pt tiebreak Sun pulled it out 11-9 leaving the Jumbos with a 5-2 overall match victory.
It was a strong weekend for Tufts as they took both matches and improved on both their record seeding for the NESCAC tournament in two weeks. On Friday, April 24, the Jumbos will host the No. 13 Washington and Lee Generals for the final match of the season. The match will also be senior day, where the team will honor its class of six seniors.
Order of Finish 2, 1, 3
3, 2, 6, 1, 5, 4
--JUMBOS--
