‘Lucky 13’ Skidmore women’s tennis earns Liberty League title

ITHACA, N.Y. – When the Skidmore women’s tennis conference championship streak began, Thoroughbred first-year player Katie Wong was five years old. At 18, she clinched the program’s record thirteenth consecutive Liberty League title with a win in the No. 3 slot in three sets to halt a surging Vassar squad.

The Thoroughbreds defeated the Brewers, 5-3, in the title match at the Reis Tennis Center at Cornell University on Sunday.

It is the seventh season in a row that Skidmore ran through Vassar for the championship.

The win secures Skidmore’s seventeenth straight NCAA Division III Tournament berth for the 12-5 Thoroughbreds.

The 5-3 win avenged, for the third year in a row, a regular season loss to the Brewers.

Skidmore got off to an all-important 2-1 lead in doubles and got a pair of quick singles wins to go up 4-1.

Vassar started coming back, with wins at No. 4 and No. 2 to pull to within a point. Wong put it away with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Iris Li.

Skidmore grabbed the lead with victories in the first and second doubles matches. Konika Dhull and Grace Truong beat McCusker/Dowd at No. 1, 8-2, before Ella Provost and Wong put the Thoroughbreds up a pair with an 8-4 win over Li/Kirby.

Vassar got on the board with an 8-6 win at No. 3 from Kishnan/Dulley.

Dhull got her second win (6-2, 6-1) at first singles to make it 3-0, and Katherine Almquist put Skidmore within a point of clinching the title moments later with a straight set (6-2, 6-0) victory over Kirby in the fifth match.

Krishnan (who won twice for the Brewers) and Dowd both won in three sets to pull the Brewers back to within a point.

Skidmore had two more chances to clinch the match. Wong got it done for the Thoroughbreds, and Beilynn Geiss was up a break in the third set at No. 6 in the only unfinished match.

The tournament field will be announced on Monday, May 6 at noon, with regional action beginning on May 10.