The Yeowomen concluded their season this weekend in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament with a 2­–5 loss against Kenyon College. The Yeowomen finished fourth overall in the NCAC with a record of 17–8, after entering the tournament No. 30 in the country and No. 6 in the region.

“I truly believe that this team could take down anyone, but against Kenyon we struggled at the beginning in doubles and this led to a lot of pressure in singles,” said senior Farah Leclercq.

The Yeowomen started doubles poorly, losing all three matches early in the tournament. Leclercq and sophomore Grace Porter fell to Kenyon’s Amy Schlessman and Taylor Diffley in a decisively won 1–8 blowout. This loss started a downward spiral of losses as the Yeowomen fell 3–8 in the No. 2 match and 4–8 at No. 3.

“We wanted to beat them too badly.  That never works.  We got way too wound up for the doubles and couldn’t see straight.  Our decision-making was off and so was our execution,” said Head Coach Constantine Ananiadis.

Put to the fences, the Yeowomen tried to set things straight in the singles portion of the match. Leclercq stared off the singles with a 6–0 blowout win and then took another 6–2 landslide victory.

With this momentum, junior Brenna Sheldon took two more hard-fought wins on a sprained wrist, winning the first match 6–2, and then proceeded to another 6–4 victory. “My wrist was taped and Sunday I knew it was my last match of the season, so I just thought, it’s okay if I make it worse, I just want to win,” said Sheldon.

Regrettably, these were the only two points that the women would score all day against the Kenyon Ladies.

Porter took to the court at number three, but lost on straight sets in a 4–6 and 3–6 loss against Kenyon’s Amanda Polster. Senior Preeya Shah came out with a purpose in her last college match, winning the first set 6–2. In the last two sets Shah failed to hold on to her lead and fell 3–6 and 5–7.

Unfortunately, with the loss the team does not have a shot at making it to the national tournament. Individually, Leclercq still has a more than likely shot at getting a bid for singles play, as does Porter for a doubles duo.

Overall, the women’s tennis team had a successful season after losing most of its line-up last year after graduating six seniors. As the team rebuilds, it has high hopes for next season and looks to put in work this off-season.