COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's tennis team came within a whisker of an unprecedented upset on Saturday, giving nationally ranked Johns Hopkins a major scare on the Floy Lewis Bakes Center courts. But the nine-time defending champion Blue Jays kept their nearly decade-long Centennial Conference winning streak alive by taking the last two singles matches to escape with a 5-4 thriller.
Ursinus (8-4, 1-3) gave the high-powered Blue Jays fits, nearly sending them back to Baltimore with their first conference setback since 2006. But the stunner was not in the cards, as Johns Hopkins (9-2, 5-0) – ranked 12th in the nation and 4th in the region, came back from the brink of defeat to extend its CC streak to 95 matches.
The Bears came the closest to knocking off the Blue Jays since Swarthmore lost by the same score in 2007.
Ursinus, ranked 12th in the Atlantic South region, had not won as much as a single court against the Blue Jays since a 7-2 loss in 2008. Senior BreAnna Bashaw and sophomore Ariel Danziger made quick work of that drought, scoring an 8-5 victory at second doubles to stake the Bears to a 1-0 lead.
Knotted at 1-apiece, junior Christine Palazzolo and senior Stephanie-Jane Seabra fought off three match points to outlast the Blue Jays in a 9-7 nail-biter at third doubles, granting Ursinus a healthy dose of belief and, more importantly, a 2-1 lead heading into singles play.
The teams traded back-to-back victories from there, with Johns Hopkins seizing a 3-2 lead before sophomore Aileen Bevard registered a 6-3, 6-4 triumph at third singles to knot the match. Danziger was next off the court with a 6-3, 7-6 (5) win at fourth singles that put Ursinus on the precipice of a remarkable upset.
Palazzolo and Johns Hopkins' Katie Gauch traded several sets points each in an incredible first-set tiebreaker before Gauch pulled out a 13-11 slugfest. She would claim the second set as well, setting up a winner-take-all clash at sixth singles. The Blue Jays won in straight sets there, ending the Bears' exciting bid.
Bevard improved to 11-1 in dual matches with her fourth straight singles win, while the captain tandem of Palazzolo and Seabra stretched their streak to four at third doubles, moving to 13-2 overall.
Ursinus hosts Swarthmore in a CC match on Wednesday, April 13; the Garnet are slotted just one spot below the Bears at No. 13 in the regional rankings.