BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian College is going to take a look back at its 2018-19 athletic campaign over the next eight weeks with a pair of top 10 lists voted on by the athletic administration. The first list starting today will be the Top 10 Exciting Games from the past year with a look at our No. 10 highlight – the women's tennis team defeating Cairn University, 5-0, for the program's first-ever NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament victory.
The Greyhounds completed the 2018-19 campaign at 20-2, the first team in program history to reach 20 wins, and the squad captured its fourth Landmark Conference Championship at Lehigh University's Lewis Tennis Center on May 4 to earn the Hounds' third trip to the NCAA Championships. The conference title was the 12th in program history.
On a damp Friday afternoon in Middlebury, Vermont on Friday, May 10, Moravian faced off versus Cairn University, the Colonial States Athletic Conference Champion, in the opening round of the 2019 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament. The match was played indoors at Middlebury's Nelson Recreation Center due to the weather.
The Greyhounds jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead by sweeping the doubles action. The tandems of junior Lauren Steinert and sophomore Mary Angle and sophomores Brooke Adams and Kristen Cassidy both posted 8-0 wins at second and third doubles respectively while junior Eiman Nazif and sophomore Emma Angle won 8-2 at first doubles.
With postseason matches only played until one team achieves the five points needed to win and the Hounds already up 3-0, it was a race on the four courts in the Nelson Recreation Center to see who on the Moravian roster would earn the final two points. Nazif picked up the fourth point with a 6-0, 6-0 triumph at second singles, and moments later, Steinert posted the same 6-0, 6-0 victory at fourth singles as she won for the 20th time on the season, tying the school record for singles wins in a season. Both of the Angle sisters were close to winning their singles contests as well when the contest ended while Adams and Cassidy never made it onto the court for their scheduled singles matches with the victory happening in just over an hour.
Moravian would face host and No. 3 Middlebury in the second round the following day, falling, 5-0, as one of the most successful seasons in program history came to an end.
Read the original game story at https://www.moraviansports.com/sports/wten/2018-19/releases/20190510sakgad with links to stats and photos.
The number nine highlight in the top 10 exciting games of 2018-19 will be released on Monday, June 10.
