With one more tournament in its season remaining, women's tennis continues to fare well among top teams in the Northeast. The weekend of fall break, the Polar Bears travelled to Middlebury College far the Gail Smith Doubles Classic—an event that brought 33 doubles teams from six different schools to Vermont. Among the teams that were invited were Amherst, Brandeis, Skidmore, Bowdoin and Connecticut College. All eight players of the Bowdoin women's team participated, and Coach Hobie Holbach experimented with different partner combinations. The teams were placed into groups with three other doubles opponents and each team had to play a three match round robin.
Seniors Brett Davis and Liz Pedowitz finished their weekend with a 5-1 record; the only team that defeated them was Amherst's No. 1 tandem Brittney Berckes and Laura Danzig, who ended up winning the tournament. Among the victories of the Bowdoin duo was a win over a Middlebury team in which Davis and Pedowitz were down 3-6 in the pro-set and came back to seize the victory winning 9-7 in the final score. The Bowdoin senior pair also overpowered Brandeis's No. 1 doubles team in a close match, taking the pro-set 8-7 in a tie-breaker.
Sabine Carrel '13 from Germany and Nikki Kuna '13 from Texas debuted as a doubles team in well-played matches against teams from Brandeis University and Middlebury College.
"As a team, we played really well. Overall it was a good tournament," said Kuna.
Hannah Hoerner '12 and Kellen Alberstone '13 coasted through their first three matches in the round-robin phase of the bracket. The pair defeated top teams from Middlebury, Brandeis and Skidmore before being stopped by Amherst's No. 2 team Carlissa King and Laken King. The Classic was also the first time Hoerner and Alberstone played together.
Chantalle Lavertu '13 and captain Emily Lombardi '12 also competed together for the first time. Continuing the streak of successful first-timers, Lombardi and Lavertu ended the tournament with a 4-2 record.
"It's good for us to realize that even when we are playing with somebody we haven't played with before, we are still improving," said Pedowitz. "We can all play well with each other. Last year was a little tougher trying different combos but this year is the opposite. I feel comfortable playing with anyone."
The women's tennis team will play their last tournament of the season at Amherst this weekend, where there will be sixty teams participating. The matches will be structured in a Davis Cup Style.
"It is going to be fun. It should be a good experience. We're all really pumped," said Lavertu '13.