Second-Seeded Sewanee Edges Women's Tennis in SCAC Semifinals

North Little Rock, Ark. – The third-seeded Trinity Tigers women were edged 5-4 by No. 2 Sewanee: The University of the South Saturday in the semifinals of the SCAC Women’s Tennis Championship Tournament at Burns Park Tennis Center.
 
Trinity (8-9), ranked 25th nationally, will take on No. 4 seed Centre at 8 a.m. Sunday for third place. Sewanee, ranked 19th, plays No. 17 DePauw (No. 1 seed and defending champion) for the title.
 
Saturday’s match-up was a battle from start to finish.
 
Sewanee took two of three doubles, but had to work for it. The Trinity No. 2 doubles team of Katie Griffith and Megan Jackson fought off five match points before falling 9-8 (12-10) to Michelle Flume and Anne Garland. Trinity’s Erin Jamison and Kassie Seger won No. 3 doubles, beating Laura Szyperski and Lindsay Wilburn 8-2. Sewanee’s Kate Stanford and Jenny Liles beat Thavindra Ekanayake and Kylie Hornbeck 8-2 at No. 1 doubles.
 
Trinity went down 1-4 after losing the top two singles matches. Stanford beat Ekanayake 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles; and Liles was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Griffith in the No. 2 match.
 
Jackson, playing No. 3 singles, closed the score to 2-4 by defeating Flume 6-1, 6-3.  Hornbeck rallied from a first-set loss to beat Garland 4-6, 6-3, 3-3 retired (cramps) at No. 4 singles.
 
Lavinia Bendandi tied the match at 4-4 with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 win over Wilburn at No. 6 singles.
 
Jamison fought hard at No. 5 singles, but Sewanee’s Julia Wood clinched the victory with a 7-6, 6-7, 6-1 outcome.
 
Sewanee beat Trinity 5-3 in last year’s semifinals. The Trinity Tigers went on to clinch third place with an 8-1 victory over Rhodes.
 
 
SEWANEE: THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH 5, TRINITY 4
Doubles
1.      Kate Stanford/Jenny Liles, Sewanee, def. Thavindra Ekanayake/Kylie Hornbeck 8-2
2.      Michelle Flume/Anne Garland, Sewanee, def. Katie Griffith/Megan Jackson 9-8 (12-10)
3.      Erin Jamison/Kassie Seger, Trinity, def. Laura Szyperski/Lindsay Wilburn 8-2
Singles
1.      Stanford, Sewanee, def. Ekanayake 6-1, 6-3
2.      Liles, Sewanee, def. Griffith 6-3, 6-1
3.      Jackson, Trinity, def. Flume 6-1, 6-3
4.      Hornbeck, Trinity, def. Garland 4-6, 6-4, 3-3, retired
5.      Julia Wood, Sewanee, def. Jamison 7-6, 6-7, 6-1
6.      Lavinia Bendandi, Trinity, def. Wilburn 6-3, 2-6, 6-2