ORLANDO, Fla. – Colgate women's tennis jumped out to an early 2-0 lead against Haverford College on Tuesday afternoon and staved off a late rally to hold onto to a 4-3 win at the USTA National Campus. Junior
Addie Eklund delivered the duel-clinching point in a three-set marathon for her third-consecutive singles victory, her second straight on court three.
"That was a very close match that served as a tremendous gut check for the ladies," head coach Bobby Pennington said. "Credit to Haverford as they played out of their minds all day. We were also without our number one Sophia Montero, so we all had to step up, and we even lost the first five sets. But to be back above .500 with a 7-6 record feels pretty damn good."
The Raiders played with enthusiasm to start the duel with Gigi Bohan/Carina Cristobal setting the tone with a dominant 6-1 win in doubles two. Sophia Montero/Amelia Galin gave the Fords everything they could handle on court one, but the score was tied after the duo narrowly fell, 7-5.
Colgate was still able to claim the first point of the day when Avery Isaac/Eliza Podlas pulled out a 7-5 victory in third doubles.
After the Raiders dropped the first five sets of singles action, Cristobal righted the ship and ended the duel undefeated when she doubled the Colgate lead with a 6-2, 6-1 win. With the victory, she moved her record to a perfect 2-0 in the second singles slot this Spring.
Haverford would go on to tie the score at two with wins on one and four, leaving three matches to play that were all locked in the third set.
Podlas put the Raiders back in front with a gritty 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win on court six but Haverford quickly responded with a court five triumph.
The duel rested on the shoulders of Eklund in singles three, and the junior delivered a clutch comeback win (3-6, 6-3, 6-4) to push Colgate back over .500 on the season.
UP NEXT
The Raiders will not have much time to recover as they continue their string of Spring break duels against Southeastern at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
