The Lions finished their regular season with a close win as they look forward to the postseason, coming out victorious over the Garnets of Swarthmore College in a close 6-3 match. The College, ranked 26th in Division III, improved its record to an impressive 12-6, while Swarthmore fell to 11-5 after enjoying a five-match win streak.
With sophomore star and first singles and doubles player Jackie Shtemberg sidelined with a broken finger, the rest of team picked up the slack, doing just enough to steal the match from Swarthmore.
In doubles action, the College took two out of three matches, the winning duos being the pair of sophomore Sarah Roser and junior Emily Witko (8-2) as well as junior Haley Kutner and sophomore Stephanie Haar (8-1). Haar and Kutner are now 10-4 on the year together.
The team dropped its first two singles matches with senior Christina Contrafatto and freshman Amanda Berg unable to outplay their competition.
Haar won her match, 6-4, 6-2 to tie the overall match at 3-3 and then each point truly began to matter for both squads. The final three singles matches of the day all went to three sets and each time the College came out on top. Kutner defeated her opponent 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, Roser came back from a one-set deficit to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, and sophomore Tamra Wroblesky finished out the day with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.
"It was a very close match," head coach Scott Dicheck said. "When Jackie broke her finger, we had to juggle the lineup, but the team showed a lot of toughness."
Before the match, the College recognized its seniors for their achievements. Seniors Contrafatto, Ariel Donahue and Kimberly Lee Lum lifed the team to a combined record of 53-13 over their four-year careers. Contrafatto is an International Tennis Association All-American in singles and doubles and has an impressive career record of 138-55 at the College.
