Seeded players continued to fall in the second round of the singles competition of the 2008 NCAA Championships. Bowdoin’s Kristen Raymond knocked off sixth-seeded Marissa Lin of the University of Chicago in the second round 6-0, 6-1. Grace Baljon of Williams lost the first set to seventh-seeded Gab Carvalho of the University of the South 6-2, but came back to complete the upset by winning the second set 6-2 and the third set 7-5.
Quarterfinals pairings include:
#1-Siobhan Finicane, Pomona-Pitzer versus Kristen Raymond, Bowdoin
Grace Baljon, Williams versus Lauren Caire, Washington and Lee
#4-Brittany Berckes, Amherst versus #5-Cary Gibson, Williams
Nicole Pontee, Vassar versus Meghan McCooey, Tufts
Two matches were the buzz of the first round of doubles competition. The doubles team of Sabra Rogers and Tshema Nash from Emory University upended the top-seeded duo of Siobhan Finicane and Olivia Muesse in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to open up the top portion of the bracket.
Yet, the most exciting doubles match of the day came from Erin Andrade and Kayla Smith of DePauw and Paige Sumida and Whitney Waters of Redlands. The first set went in favor of Andrade and Smith 6-2 with long service games as the set lasted over 40 minutes. The same could be said of the second set as Sumida and Waters evened the match at one set apiece after taking the second set 6-3 in nearly an hour.
The third set was a seesaw battle between both teams as the score gradually built up to 5-5. Andrade and Smith won the next service game to break Sumida and Waters’ serve to take a 6-5 lead. The set appeared to be heading into a tiebreaker as Andrade and Smith were down 15-40. Six deuces later, the DePauw team won three straight points to win the service game and the match 2 hours and 45 minutes after it began.
Quarterfinal pairings include:
Rogers/Nash, Emory versus Andrade/Smith, DePauw
#3-Berckes/Menezes, Amherst versus Morse-Karzen/Fugate, Mary Washington
Cobb/Drane, Denison versus #4-Hunt/Steinmetz, Trinity (Texas)
Chui/Staloch, Carnegie Mellon versus #2-Caire/Tabb, Washington and Lee
The singles quarterfinals matches will begin at 9 a.m. CDT with semifinal matches played at noon CDT. Doubles play will continue with the quarterfinal round played at 3 p.m. CDT.