CLAREMONT, Calif. -- The second ranked Williams College women's tennis team (5-0) defeated the No. 10 University of Chicago Maroons (10-3), 9-0, Friday morning.

 

Chicago entered off an upset 5-4 win over No. 7 Bowdoin the day before, but the Ephs came out on fire and took control early. Williams quickly won at first and second doubles and then with an 8-5 win at No. 3 by Giulia McDonnell Nieto Del Rio and Emily Zheng, the Ephs took a 3-0 lead into singles.

 

The Ephs recorded five straight set wins in singles: Rachel Cross at No. 2, Leah Bush at No. 3, Chloe Henderson at No. 4, Mi Gancayco at No. 5 and Julia Cancio at No. 6.

 

Only Juli Raventos at first singles went past two sets. Raventos claimed the first set 6-0, but dropped the second set 3-6 before claiming the tiebreaker 10-3.

 

"When this group is competing for every ball on all six courts, we're a fearsome team," Williams coach Anik Cepeda said. "Our growth outdoors has been between the ears-shot selection, court positioning, and grit. We're non-stop and that reflected on the scoreboard. We're hungry for another battle and looking forward to our match tomorrow vs CMS."

 

The Ephs will line up against the third-ranked Athenas from Claremont Mudd Scripps (16-0) on Saturday.

 

Men’s Tennis

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The No. 11 Williams College Ephs (4-1) faced the No. 5 University of Chicago Maroons (10-2) on Friday.

 

Williams had just come off a win against a red-hot Cerritos team, breaking their 13-match win streak. However, Chicago proved too much for Williams to handle, handing the Ephs a 5-2 loss. 

 

The Ephs started the day strong, with an 8-2 doubles win from Austin Barr and Brian Grodecki. They almost extended their lead to two points, but Alex Taylor and Calvin Chung lost in a tiebreak. This close loss swung the momentum to the Maroons, who never gave it up afterwards.

 

The Maroons separated themselves in singles, winning all but one match. Ananth Raghavan  had the lone win for the Ephs, needing only two sets to finish it off. Arturo Kam brought his match to three sets, but before he could finish his match, the game had been called for Chicago. Taylor was only one game away from adding a point for his team, but like Kam, he could not finish his match. He was up 7-6, 5-2.

 

Despite the loss, head coach Dan Greenberg took some good from the result.

 

"We got off to a rough start, but I felt by the end of the match that we were really finding our way,” Greenberg said. “I definitely think we can use that momentum going forward, even though it was not enough today."

 

The Ephs will face the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens in their next match on Sunday. 

 

Baseball

LAVERNE, Calif. -- Mauricio Guadarrama doubled home the go-ahead run with one out in the bottom of the eighth and Williams left the tying run on third in the top of the ninth as the LaVerne Leopards walked away 5-4 victors on Friday. 

 

Williams fell to 1-3 with the defeat, while LaVerne improved to 13-8 overall. The Ephs are at Chapman Saturday.

 

The Ephs outhit their hosts, 12-8, in the contest. The scored twice in the top of the second to take a 2-0 lead. Kellen Hatheway led off with a single and, after an out, Adam Dulsky ripped a single as well. Alex Panstares singled home Hatheway and, with two outs, Eric Mini came through with a single up the middle to score Dulsky with the second run. 

 

It was 2-1 Williams heading into the top of the fourth. Panstares led off with a single and moved to second when Tom Benz laid down a beautiful bunt and beat it out for a hit. With one out, Mike Stamas delivered the run with a solid line drive sacrifice fly to right field. 

 

LaVerne scored twice in the fifth to tie the game, 3-3, but Williams tallied a single run in the seventh to regain the lead, 4-3. With two outs, Doug Schaffer was hit by a pitch. Jack Roberts followed by scalding a ball down the right-field line for an RBI-triple and the lead. 

 

The Leopards rallied against first-year Bryan Woolley in the eighth. A single, walk and sacrifice bunt put Leopards on second and third with one out. A balk call brought in the tying run before Guadarrama's double scored what proved to be the winning run. 

 

The Ephs attempted to rally in the ninth when Stamas beat out a bunt for a single to start the frame and was sacrificed to second by Schaffer. A balk call then advanced hom to third with one out, but Leopard pitcher Hayden Firth (3-0) induced a groundout to short from Roberts and a fly out to right by Hatheway to strand Stamas and end the game. 

 

George Carroll got the start for the Ephs and went four-plus frames, allowing four hits and two runs, both earned, while walking four. Woolley (0-1) took the loss, going the final four innings and allowing four hits, three runs, all earned, while walking one and striking out two. 

 

Panstares led the Ephs' offense with a 3-for-4 day. Stamas was 2-for-4 and both Roberts and Hatheway finished 2-for-5.