Amos, Hamilton and Ree Ree Li Record Comeback Wins

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale women's tennis team came up just short in its final home match of the 2015 season on Sunday, falling to No. 35 Dartmouth in a tight encounter.   The Bulldogs pushed the Big Green to the limit, but Dartmouth proved too strong down the stretch and completed a 4-3 victory.

With the loss, Yale's 2015 Ivy League record now stands at 3-3, with one match remaining.  The Bulldogs are currently in a two-way tie for fourth place in the Ivy League standings alongside their next opponent, Brown.  No. 40 Princeton has clinched the 2015 Ivy League title with a 6-1 record. 

Dartmouth, the highest-ranked team in the Ancient Eight at the moment, got off to a positive start with a pair of wins in doubles to secure the first point of the match.  The Big Green then quickly claimed two more points in singles play at the No. 4 and No. 1 spots to post a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead. 

Yale was resilient as ever, however, and began to fight back in sensational fashion.  Juniors Madeleine Hamilton and Ree Ree Li, who were both pivotal in Friday's win over Harvard, led the way.  Hamilton made an exceptionally strong comeback to defeat Katherine Yau 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, while Li also staged a comeback to notch a hard-fought 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory. 

With the Bulldogs nearly back on level terms, there were only two more matches still ongoing, at No. 5 and No. 6 singles.  Freshman Carol Finke had provided the heroics in Yale's triumph over the Crimson on Friday, but against Dartmouth it was not to be, as her opponent, Akiko Okuda, made a comeback of her own to complete a 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles and clinch the match for Dartmouth.  Meanwhile, junior Courtney Amos finished Yale's third individual comeback of the day as she bested Julia Schroeder 3-6, 7-5, 1-0(4) at No. 5 singles.

Assistant coach Matej Zlatkovic remained proud of the team's efforts, saying, "The players fought hard today.  Unfortunately we came up just short.  I am proud of the way we fought."

Full results from Sunday's match against Dartmouth can be found below.

Yale will now have a week to prepare for its final match of the 2015 season, which will take place at Brown on Saturday, Apr. 25, at 12:00 p.m. EDT.

Report by Robert Batista '15, Yale Sports Publicity

Doubles

Kristina Mathis/Taylor Ng (Dartmouth) def. Madeleine Hamilton/Ree Ree Li (Yale), 8-5

Akiko Okuda/Katherine Yau (Dartmouth) def. Valerie Shklover/Hanna Yu (Yale), 8-4

Carol Finke/Sherry Li (Yale) vs. Alexxis Kiven/Julia Schroeder (Dartmouth), 6-4

Singles

Taylor Ng (Dartmouth) def. Hanna Yu (Yale), 6-3, 6-2

Madeleine Hamilton (Yale) def. Katherine Yau (Dartmouth), 3-6, 6-2, 6-1

Ree Ree Li (Yale) def. Kristina Mathis (Dartmouth), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4

Jacqueline Crawford (Dartmouth) def. Sherry Li (Yale), 6-2, 6-2

Courtney Amos (Yale) def. Julia Schroeder (Dartmouth), 3-6, 7-5, 1-0(4)

Akiko Okuda (Dartmouth) def. Carol Finke (Yale), 2-6, 7-5, 6-1