ATHENS, Ga. – Alabama’s No. 5-ranked doubles duo in senior Erin Routliffe and freshman Maddie Pothoff lost a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 10-7 decision to Ohio State’s No. 18-ranked doubles team Francesca Di Lorenzo and Miho Kowase in the 2017 NCAA Women’s Tennis Doubles National Championship on Monday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the campus of the University of Georgia.
In the opening frame, both doubles teams held their first serves, before Routliffe and Pothoff rattled off back-to-back games to take an early 3-1 lead. Both teams held their next two serves giving Alabama a 5-3 advantage, before Di Lorenzo and Kowase registered back-to-back games tying the score at 5-5. The score was tied again at 6-6, and Routliffe and Pothoff went on to win the tiebreaker in a 7-5 result.
Di Lorenzo and Kowase won the first two games of the second set, before Routliffe and Pothoff responded back with back-to-back games of their own to equalize the score at 2-2. The score was tied again at 3-3, before Di Lorenzo and Kowase won two games to go up 5-3. Routliffe and Pothoff held their next serve, but it wasn’t enough as Di Lorenzo and Kowase won the second frame in a 6-4 decision.
Ohio State’s tandem went on to win the third set tiebreaker in a 10-7 result, clinching the doubles national championship.
