HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's tennis team defeated Centennial Conference rival Washington College, 5-4, Thursday night coming back from a 4-2 deficit with three wins in the final three singles matches.
Helen Fisun captured the match-winning point for Haverford (4-3, 3-0 CC), finishing off Brittany Marshall of Washington (6-2, 2-1 CC) on the third match point of the third set.
Fisun took the opening set but Marshall pulled even with a win in the second. The pair, playing at No. 2 singles, were the last two players on the courts after Haverford's Katie Wettick won a 2-1 decision at No. 1 and Fumiko Shogase took No. 5 by the same score rallying the Fords from two down to a 4-4 score leaving Fisun and Marshall playing to decide the team outcome.
The Shorewomen opened up with two wins of three matches in doubles competition then kicked off singles play with a win at No. 4.
Sarah Gibson got Haverford's second point with a quick, 6-4, 6-2, win at No. 6 but Washington added its fourth point winning at No. 3.
Shogase won the first set over Kat Cohen, 6-4, dropped the second, 1-6, then came back with a 6-4 victory in the third that pulled the Fords within a point at 4-3 in the team scoring.
Wettick fell behind a set to Jordan Finnegan at No. 1 but bounced back with strong wins, 6-1 and 6-3, to set up the Fisun-Marshall duel for the team win.
Fisun's opening set win was nip and tuck all the way as she pulled out a 7-6 (9-7) tie-breaker win to edge the Fords closer to victory.
Marshall battled back, though, and pounded out a 6-2 second set win that caused the tension to rise both on the court and on the sidelines.
Fisun charged ahead in the third set until she held a 5-3 advantage while serving at 40-30. Marshall won the next point to pull even at deuce, but Fisun took the next for ad-in.
Not ready to give in just yet, Marshall broke back with the next point for the second deuce of the game. Fisun, finally, took the next, and then the last point to pull out the win and send the Haverford sideline into raucous cheers with the match victory.
The Fords, ranked 11th in the Atlantic-South ITA Region, will welcome Dickinson College to the Marshall Courts in their next outing Saturday at Noon.
