Women’s golf wins NESCAC Championship
Women’s golf — No. 2 in the NCAA Div. III East Region — won first place at the NESCAC Championship at the Taconic Golf Club last weekend, shooting a 303, +19, to beat Hamilton by 32 strokes. During the first day of the competition, Gio Kim ’25 made consecutive birdies on holes 17 and 18 and ended her match with a stellar 69, -2. Emma Abramson ’27 and Tianyi Zhuang ’24 followed in close pursuit with scores of 73, +2, as Zhuang scored birdies on holes 4 and 5. Victoria Kim ’26 and Euna Lee ’26 then finished strong with scores of 74, +3 and 78, +7, respectively.
At the end of the day, the team finished in first place with a score of 289, +5 to beat their previous record at Taconic by two strokes.
“In any of these tournaments, the winning team can be separated by just one shot, so I made sure to play each shot intentionally and give it my all,” Abramson told the Record. “I was proud of our team performance and to see the hard work we have been putting in all year pay off.”
During the second day of the competition, Gio Kim shot a 75, +4 to claim medalist honors, with Abramson just behind by three strokes. Victoria Kim and Lee shot 77, +3 each, with Kim notching four birdies and Lee scoring a birdie on hole 13. Zhuang followed suit to shoot 81, +10. Overall, the team shot 303, +19 to take home the NESCAC Title.
The win is the team’s first conference title since 2021 and helped to secure a spot in the NCAA Div. III Championships at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Ky. from May 21 to 24.
Men’s crew takes third at New England Rowing Championships
Men’s crew — No. 4 in the NCAA Div. III New England Region — took third place at the New England Rowing Championships on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. over the weekend.
To kick off the regatta, the Ephs’ 3v finished second in their heat with a time of 6:27.108, just behind Wesleyan, who crossed the line in 6:25.038.
The Ephs’ 2v then won their heat with a time of 6:11.993, with Bates and Trinity trailing behind with times of 6:14.557 and 6:16.835, respectively. “The parity among NESCAC teams has grown a lot even in the past year, so it’s super exciting to test out our speed against everyone,” said Carina Sun ’26, coxswain of the 2v boat. “As a coxswain, I tried my best to keep both myself and my crew calm amidst all the chaos and moving parts.”
The Ephs’ 1v boat then placed second in their heat with a time of 5:57.353, finishing fractionally behind Tufts, whose time was 5:57.269. The Ephs’ 3v and 2v qualified for the Grand Final by placing in the top three of their respective heats and the 1v qualified by finishing in the top two of its heat.
That same day, the Ephs’ 5v boat took first place during the Grand Final round – having not had a preliminary round – with a time of 7:29.044, beating runners-up Bowdoin and Boston College, who finished with times of 7:40.324 and 8:00.746, respectively.
In the finals portion of the regatta, the 4v placed fourth with a time of 6:28.370, losing to first-place finisher Tufts with a time of 6:17.746 and beating Trinity and WPI with times of 6:29.852 and 6:40.796, respectively.
The Ephs’ 3v also placed fourth with a time of 6:25.758, losing to first-place Tufts with a time of 6:15.970 and besting Trinity with a time of 6:28.376 The Ephs’ 2v then placed second in their final round with a time of 6:10.580, losing to first-place Tufts with a time of 6:09.268 and beating Wesleyan with a time of 6:12.604.
Finally, the Ephs’ 1v placed in fifth during their final round with a time of 6:04.063, losing to first-place Wesleyan with a time of 5:57.585 and beating Bates by a few milliseconds. The Ephs will compete in Worcester, Mass. for the National Invitational Collegiate Rowing Championships Regatta next weekend.
Women’s crew takes fourth overall at New England Championships
On Saturday, women’s crew competed in Worcester, Mass. at the New England Rowing Championship, placing fourth overall in the field of 24 teams and second in the NESCAC.
The Ephs encountered conditions much calmer and sunnier than anything yet faced this season. The team made the most of these conditions, as each of the boats, the 1v, 2v, 3v, and 4+, made the Grand Final of their event, placing either first or second in their initial heats. The 4+ kicked off the afternoon of final heats by earning the lineup’s personal best: a time of 8:21.75. The performance earned the boat sixth place in its 9-boat heat.
The 3v delivered the best finish of the Ephs’ boats on the afternoon of Grand Finals, placing second with a time of 7:27.221. Though neck and neck with Bowdoin throughout the race, the Ephs stormed ahead in the last couple hundred meters to finish three seconds ahead of the Polar Bears and behind the Tufts Jumbos.
Finishing third in their field, the Ephs’ 2v pulled off a solid early sprint for a final time of 7:03.081 and open water between them and the fourth place College of the Holy Cross Crusaders. Sophia Clavenna ’27 , three seat of the 2v, highlighted this performance as a rewarding moment. “It was a really mentally challenging race, especially because it was our second race of the day. But I remember Ariana [Oppenheimer ’26] said ‘I know you’re tired, but trust me, let’s finish.’ And you could just feel everyone start and pick up the pace,” she said. “I didn’t really realize until after, but apparently we had gained a lot of momentum and really sped up in our sprint, which was very exciting — knowing our hard work had prepared us for that moment
The 1v secured fifth place in a tough field, losing to first-place MIT by 12 seconds and pulling hard for a final time of 7:05.494.
Next weekend, the team will once again travel to Worcester, Mass. for the National Invitational Rowing Championship which will double as the NESCAC Championship, hoping to find fast finishes and qualify for the NCAA Div. III Tournament.
Men’s tennis falls to Tufts in NESCAC Semifinal
Last weekend, No. 7 men’s tennis (15-4, 8-2 NESCAC) competed in the NESCACTournament, beating No. 44 Colby (7-11, 4-6 NESCAC) 5-0 in the tournament’s quarterfinals, which were hosted at Wesleyan, but falling to No 9. Tufts (16-6, 8-2 NESCAC) 2-5 in the semifinal, which took place at Amherst.
The Ephs opened their tournament play with a clean 5-0 sweep of the Colby Mules. Matt Kandel ’24.5 and Nicholas Chen ’26, #1 doubles pairing, as well as Kush Anand ’27 and Simon Volkema ’26, the #2 doubles pairing, only gave up one game, each winning eight-game pro sets with scores of 8-1. Shawn Berdia ’25 and Leon Liu ’27 added to the success, fighting relentlessly in a tighter match to bring the Eph’s up to a 3-0 advantage heading into singles.
Chen and Kandel took home the only doubles win of the Tufts match-up with an 8-6 win at #1 doubles, and Volkema delivered the Ephs’ second victory of the day and last of the tournament in a 6-4, 6-1 singles win.
Chen emphasized the excitement of seeing a teammate’s hard work delivered in gametime. “I think it was a clear example of him finding clarity and his game — all the work he’s put into the season was paying off.” With an exciting bid for a spot in the NCAA Div. III Championship earned, the Ephs will travel to Brunswick, Maine, this weekend to compete against RPI (17- 1) on May 11.
Women’s tennis falls to Wesleyan in NESCAC Semifinal
Last weekend, No. 9 women’s tennis (14-5, 7-3 NESCAC) competed in the NESCAC Tournament, beating No. 20 Tufts (9-8, 6-4 NESCAC) 5-2 in the tournament’s quarterfinal round, hosted at Wesleyan, but falling to an undefeated No. 5 Wesleyan (18-0, 10-0 NESCAC) 3-5 in the semifinals, which were hosted at Amherst.
Having faced both teams during the regular season, the Ephs approached the matches with foresight and excitement. “We changed a couple of strategic plays, especially for doubles, because we knew scoring those early match points would apply pressure on our opponents during singles,” Annabelle Siegel ’26 said. “However, our main goal going into this weekend was to have good energy, good body language, and a lot of team spirit.”
Indeed, the Ephs brought all of the above, taking down the Jumbos 5-2 in the first round. Jane Ladaga ’26 and Siegel at #3 doubles and Yuu Ishikawa ’25 and Erica Eckstrand ’24 at #1 doubles pulled out early wins, with scores of 8-2 and 8-4, respectively. With a 2-1 lead heading into singles, the Ephs finished the job. Ananya Aggarwal ’24 delivered a near-perfect match of 6-1, 6-0 at #4 singles and was soon joined by Ishikawa and Ekstrand at #2 and #1 respectively as they each won their matches, clinching the Ephs’ a spot in the semifinal round.
The semifinal match-up was the Ephs’ second face-off against the Cardinals this season and saw them improve from a regular season loss of 2-7 to a 3-5 defeat. Ladaga and Siegel were the sole duo to pull off a doubles win against the Cardinals, ending their opponent’s undefeated streak. Siegel would pull to her second win of the day with a 6-2, 6-4 win at #3 singles and was joined by Ekstrand as she won a victory of 6-1, 6-4.
With a well-earned bid for a spot in the NCAA Div. III Championship secured, the Ephs will travel to Baltimore, Md., to face off against the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays (18- 4) on May 11.
