After dispatching D-I Holy Cross in impressive fashion (7-0) in its only dual match of the fall season, the women's tennis team continued its successful fall with a strong showing at the Gail Smith Doubles Tournament hosted by Middlebury College.
"The Middlebury Doubles Invitational gave the team the opportunity to solely focus on doubles and work on our doubles skill set," said captain Kellen Alberstone '13. "We like to focus on improving in doubles because that is the area most of us need the most work in."
While the team may need the most practice in its double play, it still performed extremely well at Middlebury. Leading the way for the Polar Bears was the team of Alberstone '13 and first year Kate Winningham playing at the No. 1 doubles position.
Even though this was their first time playing together in a tournament setting, the doubles pair of Alberstone and Winningham played as though they had been partners for years.
At the Middlebury Doubles Invitational, there are eight, four-team draws with the winner of each draw advancing to the tournament's quarterfinal matches. In Alberstone and Winningham's round-robin, they did not lose a match, posting a 3-0 record. Alberstone and Winningham defeated both Amherst doubles pairs: King and McCall 8-5 and Bell and Newman 8-3. They also cruised to victory over Middlebury's Wells and Kelly 8-2.
Alberstone and Winningham advanced in the tournament by bouncing Amherst's doubles pair of Pangalos and Camacho 8-4, in the quarterfinals. In their semifinal match, Alberstone and Winningham ran into the eventual tournament champions Brewer and Devlin from and Amherst fell 2-8. However, Alberstone and Winningham were determined not to return empty handed and in the consolation match, they defeated Amherst's Brown and Danzig 8-3 to finish third with a 5-1 record for the weekend.
In addition to the solid performance by Alberstone and Winningham, the Polar Bear duo of Chantalle Lavertu '13 and first-year Emma Lewis also performed very well.
After winning their round-robin, they to advance to the tournament's quarterfinals, Lavertu and Lewis fell to fourth-place finishers Brown and Danzig of Amherst 5-8 to finish with an overall record of 5-1 at the event.
Also competing at the Middlebury Doubles Invitational for Bowdoin was the doubles pair of captain Hannah Hoerner '12 and first-year Susanna Howard at the No. 3 spot. They too had a successful weekend, finishing their tournament with a 3-3 record.
"Our results from this past weekend show how hard we have all been working," Alberstone said. "I am so proud of how far we have come in just a couple of months."
The Polar Bears will look to close out their fall season on a high note this weekend when they compete at the New England Women's Invitational Tennis Tournament hosted by Amherst College. After their last fall tournament, the women's tennis team will use the winter months to prepare for their primary NCAA season in the spring.