Bates College Women's tennis edges No. 40 Swarthmore 5-4 in Virginia

Hannah Sweeney won at both second doubles and second singles, rising to 8-1 in both this season, as Bates defeated Swarthmore 5-4 on March 17, 2018 in Fredericksburg, Va (File photo by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- The Bates women's tennis team swept doubles play en route to a 5-4 victory over No. 40 nationally ranked Swarthmore College on Saturday, in the Bobcats' second of three matches in the Blue-Grey Invitational at the University of Mary Washington.

Bates (7-2) seized control of the match by winning three of three doubles matches to start off, including senior Maisie Silverman (Brunswick, Maine) and junior Bella Stone's (Concord, Mass.) 8-7 (2) win in a tiebreaker over Emma Kassan and Anna Scheibmeir at No. 1 doubles.

First-year Hannah Sweeney (Franklin, Mas.) and sophomore Lauren Hernandez (Chester, N.J.) downed Shirline Wee and Julia Gokhberg 8-5 at second doubles, moving to 8-1 on the season, while sophomore Suzanne Elfman (Longmeadow, Mass.) and first-year Haley Washington (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) rose to 7-2 this season by defeating Arya Jemal and Rachel Bronkema 8-6 at third doubles.

Bates got the two points it needed for the win at the two top positions in singles play. Silverman defeated Wee 6-4, 6-3 at the top spot, advancing to 5-2 at No. 1 singles with her third win in a row. Meanwhile Sweeney won her seventh straight singles match, moving to 8-1 on the season, including a 3-0 mark at No. 2 singles.

Elfman fought Scheibmeir to a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 defeat at third singles, and at sixth singles, junior Hannah Londoner (Westport, Conn.) fell 6-1, 7-5 to Ashley Gao.

Swarthmore dropped to 1-6 on the season.

Bates will take on No. 14 Washington & Lee on Sunday at Mary Washington, starting at 11am.