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Williams Women's Tennis Hosting ITA Tournament this Weekend
07:36AM / Saturday, September 30, 2017
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The ITA New England Regional Women's Tennis Championship got under way on Friday as players from 17 schools met on the campus of Williams College. The tournament features a singles bracket of 64 players, and a doubles bracket of 32 teams.
 
Three Ephs were seeded in the top 16 singles with Juli Raventos seeded third, Leah Bush sixth, and Mia Gancayco seeded 9-16. Raventos paired up with Julia Cancio to form the second seeded doubles team, while sophomore Chloe Henderson and first-year Rachel Cross were seeded fourth. Cross, Cancio, and Henderson also participated in the singles draw along with first-year Sasha Cayward. Bush paired up with Emily Zheng in the doubles draw as well.  
 
Last year's champions in both singles and doubles returned to the tournament this year. Wesleyan's Eudice Chong, a senior, was the No.1  seed coming into the tournament. She was seeded first for 2016's ITA Championship, as well, but was defeated by Raventos in the finals. Chong is also featured as part of the number one seeded doubles team, paired up with junior Victoria Yu. Yu and Chong overcame the number one seeded Raventos and partner Linda Shin '17 in the 2016 doubles finals.
 
In the singles draw, first seeded Chong won both her matches, losing just one game on the day. Victoria Yu, the second seed, won her first match before being upset by Williams' Chloe Henderson, a sophomore. Henderson, not seeded in the top 16, will face Middlebury's Catherin Blayze, ranked 9-16, to begin Day 2. The seventh and eighth seeds were eliminated with Sabrina Ross-Neergaard of Brandeis falling in the second round and Vanja Babunski of Trinity in the first. The remainder of the top 8 won both their matches on the day. For the Ephs, Rachel Cross locked down two wins, each 6-1, 6-1. Raventos secured victories against Middlebury and Amherst, but Cancio fell to Middlebury's Heather Boehm in the first round. Gancayco earned two wins on the day while Cayward was defeated in the first round. Bush won in each of her two matches to give Williams a successful day overall. With the round of 64 and 32 played, Day 2 will begin with 16 players remaining.
 
Wesleyan's Chong and Yu, the number one seed in doubles, secured two wins on the day overcoming Williams' Bush and Zheng 8-4 and defeating a team from MIT as well. Middlebury sophomore duo Katherine Hughes and Skylar Schossberger, the third seed, won their first game by a score of 8-1 before falling 8-6 to Amherst's Anya Ivenitsky and Avery Wagman. The rest of the top four, two teams from Williams, won both of their matches. Raventos and Cancio secured an 8-2 win over their Tufts opponents, before overcoming a team from Wesleyan 8-4. Henderson and Cross won their matches 8-0, 8-2. 8 teams will square off beginning on Day 2.
 
"Today was an excellent display of resiliency and courage to trust our games" said Williams coach Anik Cepeda at the conclusion of the long day of tennis. "We bounced back after losing sets, and adjusted well to new conditions. Looking forward to more opportunities tomorrow."
 
Play is set to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.
 
Men’s Tennis
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. -- The 2017 ITA Division III Men's New England Regional Championship kicked off Friday with both doubles and singles action.
 
Twenty Division III New England schools are represented at this year's tournament.
 
In doubles play, one seed pair  Lubomir Cuba and William de Quant rom Middlebury fell in the first round to Nathan Kaplan and partner Sean Wei of Amherst. The Amherst tandem will move on to play Anupreeth Coramutia and Jackson Kogan of Brandeis University Saturday. 
 
Second-seeded Williams College duo Alex Taylor and Brian Grodecki defeated a Colby tandem 8-2 and will compete against MIT's Victor Cheng and Charles Deng in the second round.  The Williams tandem is one of only four of the top eight seeded teams to survive the opening round and make it to further play.
 
In singles play, the top eight faired better.  Along with his double's success top seed Lubomir Cuba defeated Amherst and Bowdoin opponents to earn himself a spot in the next round.  He will match up against Williams' Sachin Raghavan, who won his spot in the third round with two decisive victories over Brandeis and Trinity competitors.
 
Volleyball
BRUNSWICK, Maine -- The Bowdoin women's volleyball team Friday handed Williams a 25-18, 25-22, 25-9 defeat.
 
Erin Denham had eight kills, and Dalan Takshima had nine digs for Williams.
 
The Ephs (5-7) are at Tufts on Saturday afternoon.
 
Women's Cross Country
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Victoria Kingham led Williams' women's cross country team with a 40th-place finish competing in a field that included Division I runners in the 6-kilometer race at the Paul Short Invitational on Friday.
 
Kingham finished an time of 20 minutes, 43 seconds. Williams' Anna Harleen moved up well during the race, crossing the line in 21:31 looking very strong. Sophomore Emma Hermann clocked a time of 22:04.
 
Men's Cross Country
BETHLHEM, Pa. -- The Williams men competed in the Men's Gold 8K at Friday's opening day of the 44th annual Paul Short Invitational, taking on a field that included Division I athletes.
 
Utah State won the meet with 119 points, while Georgetown finished second with 167 and Division II powerhouse Adams State 3rd with 179 points. Williams finished 32nd, ahead of Division I schools like Mississippi State and Binghamton, as well as Division III schools like No. 3 Johns Hopkins and No. Middlebury.
 
The individual champion was Utah State's Dillon Maggard, who won in 23:27. He was followed by Liberty's Azaria Kirwa in 23:31 and Georgetown's Jonathan Green in 23:37.
 
The first Williams finisher was first-year Aidan Ryan, running his first ever 8k, who finished in 25:07 (144th). Ryan got off to a fast start amid co-captains Liam Simpson and Ben Decker, later joined by Austin Anderson. After running 4 miles together, Ryan best survived the hot pace, followed by Anderson (25:10, 153th), Simpson (25:11, 157th), and Decker (25:27, 201st).
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