CLAREMONT, Calif. — The Bowdoin College women’s tennis team fell into a 3-0 hole in doubles play and failed to recover in a 5-0 loss to Williams (22-2) in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Championship Monday evening.
The seventh-ranked Polar Bears ended a stellar season with a record of 16-7, with three of those losses coming to the defending national champion Ephs. This matched the furthest Bowdoin had ever advanced in the national tournament, equaling the team’s quarterfinal appearances in 2008 and ’12.
Bowdoin was ahead in two of the three doubles matches in the early going, but Williams’ pair of Alex Stone/Linda Shin dominated at No. 3, cruising to an 8-4 win. The Ephs rallied at No. 1 as Kara Shoemaker/Rebecca Curran pulled away to defeat Emma Lewis/Joulia Likhanskaia, 8-3.
In desperate need of a doubles point, Bowdoin failed to pull out the No. 2 doubles match as Kathleen Elkins/Maria Pylpiv eked out an 8-6 win over Kate Winingham/ Samantha Stalder that gave Williams a commanding 3-0 lead heading into singles action.
Needing just two singles matches to clinch the win, Pylpiv beat Stalder, 6-1, 6-3 and Elkins defeated Winingham 6-1, 6-2 to seal it for Williams.
When the decision was reached, Williams was up a set in three other singles matches. Likhanskaia was up a set at No. 1 singles for the Polar Bears.
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