WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The fall season kicked off for the Williams College women's tennis on Friday afternoon with day one of the annual Lindsay Morehouse Invitational, a three-day tournament honoring former Eph tennis captain and standout Lindsay Morehouse '00, one of three Williams alumni who died in New York City in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

 

Action began Friday with Williams squaring off against teams from Middlebury and Skidmore in doubles. Middlebury swept the day in two matches as sophomore duo Maddi Stow and Catherin Blayze overcame senior/first-year team Juli Raventos and Sasha Cayward, 8-6. Julia Cancio and Emily Zheng fell by a score of 8-4 to Middlebury's Katherin Hughes and Skylar Schossberger.

 

Williams was able to bounce back against Skidmore, sweeping three doubles matches. Chloe Henderson and Rachel Cross won by a score of 8-3 while Korina Neveux and Mia Gancayco dispatched their opponents, 8-2. Leah Bush and freshman Ksoosha Ramras downed junior/sophomore duo Laura Swenson and Jessica Ampel by a score of 8-4 to finish day one.

 

"Starting the Invitational with doubles was an excellent opportunity for us to kick off some rust and nerves," first-year Williams coach Anik Cepeda said. "I was impressed with how the freshmen carried themselves on the court tonight and I'm excited to see how we compete tomorrow."

 

Overall, Williams freshmen went 2-1 in matches they were involved in.

 

As of last year, the Lindsay Morehouse Invitational features a new, more team-oriented format. The tournament is still based on individual match play and encourages participation to kick off the start of a new season. However, now each school plays its rounds of singles and doubles in the tournament in unison against an opponent so that all players from a school can be competing at the same time on adjacent courts.

 

Though there is a victor in each match, no tournament champion will be crowned at the end of the weekend. Instead, the Morehouse Invitational will continue to highlight every player on a team's roster and celebrate participation at the start of a new season. Additionally, Williams College presents the Lindsay Morehouse Award each year at the Lindsay Morehouse Invitational to acknowledge "a senior player who represents the ideals of sportsmanship, friendliness, character, fair play, and hard work that Lindsay represented."

 

The tournament will last through Sunday. Next weekend, the Ephs will face off against rival Amherst on Sept. 23 at 1 p.m. at home

 

VOLLEYBALL

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass -- The Williams College volleyball team lost to the undefeated Wesleyan University Cardinals in three sets Friday in their first NESCAC conference matchup of the season, 26-24, 28-26, 25-16.

 

The first set ended with an exciting victory for the Cardinals (24-26). For the Ephs (2-4, 0-1), Alex Newton notched the 1,000th set in her collegiate career. The Cardinals (6-0, 1-0) crept past the Ephs with outstanding offensive plays by Robi Frederick and Junior Madeleine Lundberg and took the first set.

 

At the beginning of the second set, Corbeil got a powerful kill to tie it up 1-1. The lead went back and forth for the first half of the set. Despite a few errors at the net, the Ephs fought back and stayed aggressive 19-21. The Cardinals took set two with a head-to-head battle at 28-26.

 

Down two sets, the Ephs were fighting to topple Wesleyan. A combination of quick offensive plays and aggressive serves by the Cardinals set them up for a 3-7 lead. A few runs by Wesleyan quickly brought them to the end of the third set which ended 25-16.