BRUNSWICK, Maine — Smith College tennis closed out the ITA New England Regional Championships at Bowdoin College over the weekend, led by Ava Emrich (Smyrna, Delaware/Tower Hill School)'s run to the quarterfinals of the singles B draw. Ayla Hauser (Knoxville, TN/Bearden) advanced to the round of 16 in the A draw, while Sophia Dube (Portland, OR/Oregon Episcopal School) and Heidi Cambron (Sherbrooke, Canada/Champlain College Lennoxville) each picked up backdraw victories.

Emrich opened her weekend with an 8-5 second-round win over Bowdoin's Lillian Moldenhauer, using her serve to set up points throughout the match. In the quarterfinals, she faced Colby's Soumya Wijesekera, a B draw semifinalist a year ago. Wijesekera jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Emrich won three straight games to go ahead 3-2, then extended her advantage to 5-2. Wijesekera answered with a late rally and closed out an 8-5 win.

In the A draw, Hauser followed her upset of the No. 3 seed on day one by taking on seeded Sophia Yang of MIT in the round of 16. Hauser battled throughout the match before Yang earned a 6-4, 6-3 decision.

In backdraw singles play, Dube controlled her match against Emerson's Amaya Briones on both serve and return, dropping just one game in an 8-1 victory. Cambron also turned in a strong performance, defeating Brandeis' Jillian Yang 8-3.

Smith returns to action Oct. 9-11, when it hosts the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament (NEWITT) in Northampton.

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