The women's tennis team fell 6-3 to the Middlebury Panthers last Saturday, suffering a heartbreaking loss to their 15th-ranked NESCAC rival on the Panther's home courts. The loss brings the 11th-ranked Polar Bears season record to 9-4, while the victory improves the Panthers' record to 9-3 on the season.
Senior Brett Davis led the Bowdoin effort, picking up a point in the No. 3 singles spot with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Middlebury's Brittany Faber.
Davis then continued her strong day on the courts by teaming up with standout first year Kellen Alberstone in the No. 2 doubles slot. Together they took down Middlebury's Victoria Aiello and Anna Burke 8-5.
Emily Lombardi '12 picked up Bowdoin's third point in a 6-3, 6-4 victory against the Panther's Alexandra McAtee in the No. 2 singles spot.
Chantalle Lavertu '13 also put up an admirable fight in the No. 4 singles spot, narrowly losing to Middlebury's Jamie Haar 7-6(8) before falling 6-1 in the second match.
The team was optimistic about the season's prospects after the loss and shared their thoughts about the home match against Williams this Saturday.
"We are very excited about the match this weekend," Hannah Hoerner '12 said. "We will have lots of support from family and alumni because it is Tennis Reunion Weekend—it is always great to play with a crowd watching."
"Williams is number one in the country and this will be a fun match for us," she added. "We have been working hard in practice, changing up some doubles teams, and we are all ready to play and show them how much we have improved as team since last year."
Alberstone relished the opportunity to take on the nation's top team.
"We couldn't be more enthused to be playing in front of friends, family and alumni," she said. "Williams will be a tough team to beat and we will have to play our best tennis to win. However, we love the challenge and couldn't be more ready to compete."
"Like always, our goal is to get better every week so that we are playing some of our best tennis in May," Lombardi added.
The team will take on the No. 1-ranked Williams College Ephs on Saturday at the Pickard Tennis Courts starting at 10 a.m.