BRYN MAWR, Pa. - The Bryn Mawr tennis team was finally able to get their home opener in earlier Wednesday afternoon. After numerous postponements and cancelations due to rainy weather, the Owls welcomed Washington College to campus for the first home match of 2017. It was no easy task taking on the Shorewomen, but Bryn Mawr hung right in against the visitors the whole match. However, Washington College was able to keep just ahead of the Owls most of the way through this one, ultimately taking an 8-1 win on the day.
The day started out at doubles, where Washington College picked up relatively clean wins at the first and third spots. Eram Haider and Sydney Kim put on a strong showing, but ran into a motivated Shorewomen pairing at the top spot, ultimately taking a 1-8 loss. The other Haider sister, Mariam, paired up with Julia Holeman at third doubles, and that duo found a bit more success for the Owls. However, the end result was the same, with Washington College taking an 8-3 win there. Second doubles was where most of the action was at in the early portion of today's match. Caroline Horvatits and Lizzie Siegle combined for Bryn Mawr and gave the Shorewomen duo of Hubert and Filiopoulos fits all day. After falling down a break early, Siegle and Horvatits battled all the way back to get the match back on serve and ultimately force a tiebreaker. However, the Washington College pairing did just enough in that breaker to squeak out the win, taking the match 9-8 (7-5).
Bryn Mawr continued to battle in singles as well. Unfortunately, Washington College clinched the overall match with the first two completed matches of singles, with wins at third and fourth singles giving the visitors the necessary five points. However, Bryn Mawr got its lone victory of the day in the next match to finish. Mariam Haider wore down her opponent all throughout their match at fifth singles, taking a 7-6 win of the first set. In the end, Haider's opponent was forced to retire due to injury, giving the Owls a point on the day. Lizzie Siegle's match was the next to wrap up. The Bryn Mawr junior kept her opponent on her toes throughout their match, hitting numerous great passing shots and lobs. However, Siegle ultimately fell by a score of 6-0, 6-3 in that one.
The final match of the day was perhaps the most entertaining, with Abbygail Brewster taking on Washington College's Mariah Thomas at sixth singles. Brewster was dominant in the opening set, claiming a 6-3 win in that frame with some very strong play. However, Thomas battled back and repaid the favor, winning the second in 6-3 fashion herself. That forced a tiebreak, where both players seemed to trade great points and awesome rallies the whole way through. Ultimately, Brewster gave it a great run but came up just a bit shy of a win, losing the tiebreak 10-8 to give Thomas the win.
With the home opener under their belt, the Owls will now get right back on the road for their next contest. Bryn Mawr will travel to Johns Hopkins for a tough Centennial Conference matchup against the Blue Jays. That match is slated to take place Saturday at 1:00 PM in Baltimore.
