Yale Wins Doubles Point; Hamilton Victorious in Singles

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Yale women's tennis team lost to No. 65 Brown on Saturday in its final match of the 2015 regular season.  Playing at the Brown Varsity Tennis Courts, No. 74 Yale claimed the doubles point but fell behind in singles play against the Bears.  Brown ultimately secured a 5-2 win by winning two pivotal three-set matches.

With the loss, the Bulldogs drop to a 3-4 Ivy League record and a 9-11 overall season record.  Yale finishes the season in a three-way tie for fifth place in the Ivy League standings, alongside Cornell and Penn. 

The clash for the doubles point was an extremely close affair.  Yale gained the upper hand first, as junior Madeleine Hamilton and senior captain Hanna Yu posted an 8-5 win at No. 1 doubles against Alyza Benotto and Dayna Lord.  Brown responded with a narrow 8-7(6) victory at No. 2 doubles, but Yale had the final word with an equally tight 8-7(5) triumph at No. 3 doubles, with the all-freshman tandem of Valerie Shklover and Elizabeth Zordani clinching the doubles point for Yale.

The Bears bounced back in singles with two wins at No. 4 and No. 1 singles, but from there the match was closer than the final score indicates.  Brown would ultimately claim all but one win in singles, but two of these victories were three-set wins at No. 3 and No. 5 singles.  Though Brown managed to come out on top in these encounters, Hamilton scored her second win of the day at No. 2 singles, defeating Benotto 7-6(5), 6-3. 

Full results from Saturday's match against Brown can be found below.

Reflecting on the season finale, assistant coach Matej Zlatkovic said, "Today's loss was a tough one.  I am happy of the way we played doubles.  In singles, some of our players got the chance to play at different positions than usual.  It was great to see them compete and this was a great indication for the future."

Indeed, Yu is the only graduating senior on the roster, which means the team's core will remain largely unchanged for the 2015-16 season.

Report by Robert Batista '15, Yale Sports Publicity

Doubles

Madeleine Hamilton/Hanna Yu (Yale) def. Alyza Benotto/Dayna Lord (Brown), 8-5

Hannah Camhi/Maddie Stearns (Brown) def. Carol Finke/Sherry Li (Yale), 8-7(6)

Valerie Shklover/Elizabeth Zordani (Yale) def. Ammu Mandalap/Nikita Uberoi (Brown), 8-7(5) 

Singles

Lord (Brown) def. Yu (Yale), 7-6(2), 7-6(4)

Hamilton (Yale) def. Benotto (Brown), 7-6(5), 6-3

Camhi (Brown) def. S. Li (Yale), 6-2, 2-6, 6-2

Stearns (Brown) def. Finke (Yale), 6-2, 7-5

Uberoi (Brown) def. Shklover (Yale), 7-6(4), 3-6, 1-0(8)

Mandalap (Brown) def. Zordani (Yale), 6-4, 6-2