WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Mackenzie Murphy went 2-for-3 with a pair of home runs and five RBIs Saturday to lead the Williams College softball team to an 11-0 rout of rival Amherst in the second round of the NCAA Division III regionals.

 

Williams advances to Sunday's noon winner's bracket game on Cole Field, needing to win once to advance to the super regional round next weekend. A loss for the Ephs in Sunday's first game will force a winner-take-all final at 3:30.

 

On Saturday, Jessica Kim went 2-for-5 with a double and scored twice.

 

Rebecca Duncan scattered five hits and struck out 10 to earn the complete game shutout as Williams improved to 37-6 on the season.

 

Men's Tennis

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – On Saturday, the fourth-ranked Williams College Ephs (13-4) faced the Goucher College Gophers (24-4) in the Second Round of the NCAA tournament.

 

The Gophers won 5-0 yesterday against Messiah College in the First Round, while the Ephs had a bye. From beginning to end, Williams was the best team on the court, winning 5-0.

 

The Ephs came out strong in doubles, showing why they were selected as an NCAA Regional host. They won each match 8-4, and were not seriously challenged in any of them. The #1 doubles match with Brian Grodecki and Ananth Raghavan pitted against Tetsuya Ota and Jack Hodges was perhaps the closest, as the match was 5-4 before Williams rattled off three straight wins to close out the match.

 

The Ephs were just as dominant in singles. Grodecki began by winning 6-2, 6-0 against Ota, followed by a 6-3, 6-1 finish by Raghavan against Frankie Mullinix in the No. 4 singles match. Per NCAA tournament rules, once a team reaches five wins, the match is over at that moment, regardless of the score of other matches. Austin Barr and Sachin Raghavan had won their respective first sets and were both leading in the second before their matches were called.

 

"I thought we played a really clean match in doubles and singles," head coach Dan Greenberg said. "Goucher is a very athletic team, so it was great that we stepped up and extended our season. And congrats to them on a great year."

 

The Ephs will play against Amherst, who won the other second round match 5-0, in the Regional Final on Sunday. The winner will advance to the National Quarterfinal, which will take place next week in Claremont, Calif. The match will take place at 1:30 p.m. at Hunt Tennis Courts in Williamstown, weather-pending. If necessary, the match will be moved to Lansing Chapman Rink, where Saturday's match was played.

 

Women's Tennis

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – With NCAA Division III tournament play moved inside to the Lansing Chapman Rink due to weather, Williams defeated Johns Hopkins University by a score of 5-0 in the third round of play.

 

With the win, Williams advanced to 20-0 overall on the year while Johns Hopkins fell to 14-9.

 

This was the third meeting of the two teams in the NCAA tournament, with Williams now holding a 3-0 record against the Blue Jays in tournament play. The Ephs met and defeated Johns Hopkins in 2013 en-route to their sixth straight and eighth overall NCAA Championship, and in 2014 as part of a third place finish. With the win, the Ephs are now 83-15 all-time in the NCAA tournament and hold the record for most wins, most team titles, and longest title streak (2008-2013).

 

In second round action on Friday, Williams defeated Scranton University 5-0, while Johns Hopkins overcame The College of New Jersey 5-1. Williams swept doubles and got singles victories from Chloe Henderson and Korina Neveux to secure the win. Johns Hopkins, meanwhile, took two of three doubles matches before wins from Sophie Strickland, Kimberly Zou, and Chrissy Simon sealed the victory for the Blue Jays.

 

Juli Raventos and Julia Cancio led things off for the Ephs on Saturday with an 8-2 victory over Anjie Kashyap and Sophia Strickland. Chloe Henderson and  Mia Gancayco followed shortly after with an 8-1 win, defeating Katie Gauch and Margo Gerke. The Ephs completed the doubles sweep as Korina Neveux and Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio paired up against Dhanya Asokumar and Kimberly Zou, battling to the 8-3 win.

 

Leah Bush earned the fourth win of the day for the Ephs with a win in straight sets over Strickland, 6-0, 6-0. Gancayco wrapped things up for Williams with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Asokumar. In unfinished matches, Raventos led Kashyap 6-2, 3-2, Henderson led Zou 6-2, 5-1, Cancio led Gauch 2-1, and a match between Neveux and Chrissy Simon had yet to begin.