Thu 15 May 2008
at 2:00 today. Third ranked Williams looks to avenge an early-season loss to top ranked and undefeated Washington & Lee, which is the defending national champion. The last team to beat them? Williams, in 2007. Follow the action live here. Go Ephs!
May 15th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Thank you for the link.
It is 2-1 in W&L’s favor with half the singles finished and the others in contest. Always hard to get a steady start in such a big event.
Go Ephs.
May 15th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Or maybe I read that wrong and it’s done? Sure hope not. A lot of results suddenly appeared when I went back to check it.
May 15th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Now 2-2 with Williams ahead in 3 of the remaining 5 singles matches. Note that Ashley Parsons ‘10, currently playing #3 singles, was featured on EphBlog two years ago tomorrow. Here’s hoping for that “cool feeling of confidence” which her high school coach had in her.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Thanks, Jeff, for the link. (Now 3-3 with three singles matches TBD.)
May 15th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Now 4-3 Williams, with each team up 3-0 in the third set of the final two matches.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
The ephwomen are the national champs — congratulations to all.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Congratulations! Nice payback for Williams — they beat W&L in the regular season last year, but lost in the tournament. Way to turn the tables. This could be the start of a dynasty, as Williams has only one senior in its top six players, and one of its top players (a frosh) was injured for the tournament …
May 15th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
ps this basically wraps up yet another Sears Cup for Williams. Although currently in third place overall, men’s tennis, women’s golf, men’s golf, and men’s lacrosse all scored a lot of points, add in the national championship in women’s tennis and a good shot at another national title in women’s crew, and the Ephs should easily win their umpteenth Sears Cup in a row …
May 15th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
You forgot track and field.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Good job Ephwomen.
This is 100 points for the Directors Cup. T&F should pull in some more, in addition to men’s tennis, lacrosse, and the golf teams, as mentioned above. Crew could bring in another 100 if the first boat wins (as happened last year) or 50 points if the first boat comes in second (as happened the year before); either way they are likely to be the national champions on overall points (the sum of the first and second boats’ points; there’s no third boat in the mix the way there is in D1). The second boat is very strong (that doesn’t help with the Directors Cup but matters a lot in the world of crew).
May 15th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Wonderful news.
Baseball won the NESCAC West division. Does that count for any points toward the Sears Cup? How does that work, anyway?
May 15th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
No. One has to go to the nationals (by way of automatic qualification through winning the conference championship or by way of at-large selection out of Pool B or Pool C) in order to score Directors’ Cup points. I’m not going to try to explain Pool B or Pool C.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:21 am
And some sports don’t get to play.
Football has no post-season play, so, although there is a NESCAC champion, there are no NCAA “nationals” competition for the NESCAC schools and no Directors Cup points.
Men’s crew is not an NCAA sport, so, while there is post-season competition, there are no Directors Cup points. (The Williams men’s crew usually does not participate in post-season competition beyond the New England Championship and the ECAC National Invitationals, but this year they will be going across the pond for the Henley in June.)
May 16th, 2008 at 9:55 am
No NCAA competition for squash also.
May 17th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Sports Update
In women’s golf:
“WAVERLY, IA. — Sophomore Anne O’Leary earned par on her last three holes and completed her final round with a four-over 76 Friday to help the Williams College women’s golf team to an 8th-place finish at the 2008 NCAA Div. III Championships.
It was the highest finish at nationals for the Ephs, who placed 10th last year, their first trip to the national tournament.
Williams’ Round 4 total of 320 was just one stroke off its best of the season and best of the nationals. The Ephs registered a 319 in Round 3 of the NCAAs, played at Centennial Oaks Golf Club….”
In women’s tennis (coached by our own Alison Swain):
“Coming off their NCAA team title on Thursday, junior Cary Gibson and sophomore Grace Baljon emerged victorious in the first two rounds of play in the NCAA Singles Tournament, earning All-America honors by advancing to the quarterfinal round….
In Saturday’s quarterfinals Gibson (21-7) will meet a familiar foe in Amherst’s Brittany Berckes (16-6). Gibson and Berckes have met three times this academic year with Gibson holding a 2-1 advantage and both of her wins came in three sets. Baljon (32-1) will face an opponent she has previously defeated this year in Lauren Caire (26-3) of Washington & Lee. In the Eph regular season loss at Washington & Lee, Baljon topped Caire in straight sets at number two. They did not meet in the NCAA title match as Caire played at three singles, while Baljon played at two.”
In men’s tennis:
The men’s team made it to the quarterfinals after a gutsy comeback, before being defeated by Claremont-McKenna.
Sadly, Dan Greenberg (who had been seeded #4) was upset in the first round of individual play during the extended part of the tournament. He and his doubles partner, Brett Thatcher, were eliminated in their doubles match as well. That aside, Dan has had a fantastic season.
In men’s lacrosse:
The Ephmen made it to the second round before losing to Ithaca.
“The game marks a disappointing end to a season which saw the Ephs win the NESCAC championship for the first time and earn their first ever birth [sic] in the NCAA tournament.”
Still to come:
Men’s track & field (coached by our own Pete Farwell)
Women’s track & field (also coached by our own Pete Farwell)
Women’s crew
Congratulations to all the Eph scholar-athletes. To accomplish what they do on the fields, on the courts, on the golf course, on the track and on the water, while deeply immersed in demanding academics, a myriad of extracurricular activities and (for many) holding down work-study jobs, marks extraordinary achievement, focus and commitment.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
David, you might be proud to note that Alison Swain is not only an alumna but also a daughter of Ted Swain ‘57, Phi Beta Kappa, Harvard Law. Ted, I am proud in turn to say, is also a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon (meaning a contemporanous fraternity brother of your father) and was a Williams hockey star. All that information somehow might fit one of your polemics - except perhaps for the Deke part.