CLAREMONT, Calif. Whitman's Hanna Greenberg led 40-30 in the second set against her opponent on court four of the opening round of the NCAA Women's Regional Thursday evening, when her drop shot just over the net was beyond the extended reach of her opponent Lauren Kuhn, giving the No. 27 Blues the 5-0 victory over the No. 37 UT Tyler Patriots.
Whitman (12-8) coming off their second consecutive automatic berth into the tournament via the Northwest Conference Tournament championships, were dominant from the outset against the representatives of the American Southwest Conference.
It started in doubles play, where all three teams found themselves leading in the middle of their respective matchups and powered through to earn the doubles sweep. Mary Hill and Lori Sheng came out and really set the tone for the day with an impressive win on court two, including a win in the final three games against UT Tyler's Alexandra Mckissick and Alexis Arrieta to put Whitman on the board first.
The top pairing of Greenberg and Andrea Gu, who were in a match against the top pairing of UT Tyler, led 7-4 and looked as though they were going to run away with the match. But after UT Tyler made it 7-5, Greenberg and Gu came back to take the next game and give the Blues the doubles win and staked them to an early 2-0 lead.
Shortly after the win on court one, Anastasiya Redkina and Kattie Pak, a pair of first year members of the Blues team and competing in their first NCAA Championship match, overcame a comeback from the Patriots, who had come from behind to tie the set 6-6. Redkina and Pak came back to sweep the next two games, and the Blues swept the Patriots through the doubles competition. Whitman head coach John Hein was especially impressed with the resolve of his first year competitors.
"It was really good to see our two first year's earn the victory today, and really see how far they have come from the beginning of the season until now" Hein remarked. "Even when they didn't have their best game, they were able to stay focused, compete, and break out of the funk in order to give us the doubles sweep.
The momentum from the doubles sweep had the Blues riding high into singles competition. Redkina and Greenberg, competing on courts five and four respectively, were on top of their game from the first game of their singles matches, and ended up winning in straight sets to cruise to the victory.
For Redkina, after winning the first four games of her first set, again hit a bit of a lull, but was able to regroup after giving away two games to earn the first set win 6-1. Her opponent, UT Tyler's Savannah Seely, wouldn't go down without a fight. After falling behind 2-1 in the second set, Seely was able to draw to a 3-3 tie.
But then, Anastasiya's resolve kicked in and the first year went onto win the next three games and earn the first singles point for the Blues. While holding service on the match point, Redkina delivered a cross-court shot to Seely's left, whose return forehand missed long, and clinched the 6-3 win for Whitman.
Next to her on court four, Greenberg was working to keep pace with her teammate and fed off the energy from her doubles victory earlier in the day. After splitting the first two games against the Patriots Lauren Kuhn, Greenberg went on to win five of the next six games to win the first set 6-2.
Again, the Blues had to overcome the fight from her Patriots opponent. After Kuhn won the fifth game to draw within one at 3-2, Greenberg once again powered through to win the final three games and earn the straight set victory. Up 40-30 and her opponent holding serve, Greenberg handled a shot at mid-court and returned a drop shot just over the net and out of the reach of Kuhn, sending Whitman home victorious.
"We love Hanna's passion, and she really came out strong today from the outset" added Hein, when asked about the performance of his senior. "Junior tennis can at times be so stoic, but in college tennis, you are out here as a team, you feed off of each other's energy, and you can pick each other up in a way that is positive when done correctly and balanced with a healthy respect and level of sportsmanship for your opponent."
In addition to the two wins, the Blues were also up on the other four courts when play was halted due to victory. Mary Hill was leading 3-2 in set two after earning a 6-2 victory in the first set, Andrea Gu was up 6-4,4-3, and Lori Sheng was up 6-2, 2-0 when their match was halted, and Pak earned a hard fought 6-4 win in set one and was currently up 2-0 on court six when Greenberg earned the decisive victory.
"Winning all three doubles matches was especially huge in our victory today" said Hein. "Our one and two doubles played really well, and I loved how aggressive Mary and Lori were in their match."
The doubles sweep on the day was the first time the Blues had swept doubles against a ranked opponent on the season, and was also the first time all season that Whitman swept a team that entered the match ranked in 2017-2018.
Now Whitman prepares for a real test as they play the regional host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, currently ranked No. 3 in the country and considered by many to be a favorite to win the entire tournament, especially given that the finals of the NCAA Division III Tennis Championships will be played on their home courts. The two teams will begin play Friday morning at 10 a.m.
"We certainly have our work cut out for us tomorrow against Claremont" Hein said. "CMS is one of the best in the country, but at the end of the day, it is still tennis. At certain points we will have to make sure that we trust our offensive play like we did today, probably will have to make fewer errors, and remember that they are human."
