Smashing the Competition, Women’s Tennis Crowned D-III and NESCAC Champions

On May 19, the Cards looked weathered for the first time all season. If it wasn’t for a scrappy doubles point win, their season would have been over. Despite being down 3–1 in the NCAA Division III (D-III) semifinals, the Wesleyan women’s tennis team was still in it. It was up to their fourth, fifth, and sixth singles players to mount a comeback and get them to the championship final. In a season full of resilience and perseverance, there was no doubt on the Red and Black sideline that it could be done. And so, their comeback began. 

The Red and Black entered the new season in an unfamiliar place: reigning NESCAC runner-ups. A loss to Middlebury in the 2025 NESCAC Championship marked the first time since 2018 they were not league champs. The desire to get back to the top of the ’CAC fueled an undefeated 2026 conference season from the Cards. They entered the NESCAC playoffs on an 11-match win streak, remaining composed ahead of their quarterfinal match.

“We definitely felt prepared because of the amount of matches we played and the amount of hours we put in,” Mariia Kornilova ’29 said. “But entering the championship, the expectations brought a lot of pressure with it. Many of the teams we faced had significantly improved throughout the season.”

Kicking off their NESCAC run, the Cards took on Colby in the quarterfinal, leaving with a 4–0 win against the Mules. Kornilova and Kendall Smith ’29 won their doubles match, and Agnes Guggenheim ’29 then delivered a 6–4, 6–1 over her Colby counterpart. The Cards’ stellar performance carried over to their semifinal match against Amherst.  

The Red and Black battled hard against the Mammoths the following day. Amherst got the better of Wes during doubles, but a switch from outdoors to indoors turned the tide for the Cards. Lara Afolayanka ’29, captain Sarah Youngberg ’26, and Natalia Leroy ’28 picked up crucial singles wins, and Kornilova won the deciding match at fourth singles to send the Cardinals to the NESCAC Championship. 

The championship match saw Wesleyan cruise past Bowdoin, 4–0, to earn their sixth NESCAC Championship win in seven years. Kornilova won all her sets in both doubles and singles, ending with a 6–2, 6–2 victory. At second singles, Guggenheim was essential to this win, with a 7–5, 6–0 sweep.

Lane Durkin ’27, who was sidelined with an injury all of last season, talked about how happy she was for the first-year players who were key in the Cards’ league championship run. 

“It was really rewarding,” Durkin said. “I was extremely happy for our [first-years] because they were just so tough. They accomplished so much throughout the season, and I was happy that they got to celebrate and have that feeling, similar to what I remember as a [first-year].”

To start the second round of the NCAA tournament, the Cardinals swept a 4–0 win against Moravian University. Afolayanka and Youngberg dominated doubles and Leila Epstein ’26 and Lucinda Gatsiounis ’28 beat their opponents, with Kornilova yet again securing the final point of the match.

In the third round, despite Kornilova and Smith securing a doubles win against Amherst, they lost the doubles point to the Mammoths. The Cards then dropped the no. 1 singles. Facing a 2–0 deficit, Afolayanka took charge winning the first point for the Red and Black, and Youngberg followed with a 6–1, 6–4 final to tie. Powerhouse Korilova locked in with a 7–5, 6–1 victory leading to a 3–2 lead for the Cards. Guggenheim’s match would prove to be the decider as a 6–4, 7–6 (7–3) final score led the Cards to the Elite Eight with a final score of 4–2.

The Cards spent the next week training and finishing up finals, and then it was off to Chattanooga, Tenn. for the Elite Eight and the NCAA Individual Championships. Once they got back on the court in Tennessee on May 18, they continued to dominate as they had all season. While No. 9 Washington and Lee University was a formidable foe, Wes made their matches look easy from the jump, capturing the doubles point thanks to wins from Smith/Kornilova and Afolayanka/Youngberg. Then, Youngberg, Guggenheim, and Smith cleaned up in straight sets to send the Cards to the Final Four.

Two more opponents stood in the Cards’ quest for the National Championship. The first would be No. 1 Claremont-McKenna College/Harvey Mudd College/Scripps College (CMS). Two years ago, the Cards found themselves in the exact same situation, playing top-ranked CMS in the NCAA semifinals. In 2024 they upset the Athenas before losing the championship to the University of Chicago, and in 2026 they needed to do the same to get another shot at the chip.

The Red and Black started off strong as Afolayanka/Youngberg and Smith/Kornilova avenged a first doubles loss from Epstein/Gatsiounis to get Wes the doubles point. However, the Athenas took control of the match in singles, with wins at first, second, and third singles.

That gets us back to where we started this story, with Wes down 3–1 and in need of a monumental comeback. As all three remaining singles matches entered their third sets, the tension was high as the Cards’ season hung in the balance of the three courts. First to finish was Leroy, who emphatically took down her opponent at sixth singles, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4. Then it was the captain, Youngberg, who brought the overall match to an even 3–3 with a 6–7 (4–7), 6–4, 6–4 victory.

With the Cardinals and the Athenas all tied up, it came down to Kornilova’s match at fourth singles. In what would be a season-defining moment, Kornilova went back and forth with CMS’s Bell Zhou for a whopping 27-point rally on the Cards’ match point. Ultimately, Kornilva battled through late-match cramping and outlasted her opponent, as a Zhou unforced error completed the comeback for the Red and Black, sending them to the championship final. 

Kornilova talked about playing through the pain and coming out on top. 

“The cramping helped me a bit,” Kornilova said. “At that point, you just hope that you’re able to play, and that gave me confidence. I was like ‘I might as well do whatever I can,’ and that’s how I was able to win.” 

With the win, the Cards advanced to their fourth NCAA Championship final in seven seasons, but a championship win would be their first since 2019. Their opponent in the final would be Washington University in St. Louis (WashU), who handed the Cards their most recent loss of the season. However, that loss was on March 13, about 69 days before their championship final match, and the Red and Black were a different team than those who lost during that spring break trip.

After the Cards dropped the no. 2 doubles match, the deadly combination of Smith and Kornilova picked up their 17th doubles victory of the season. They were followed by Epstein and Gatsiounis, who battled through a neck-and-neck match to win 6–4 and get the Cards the doubles point.

In singles, the Bears once again picked up the first match at third singles, but the Cardinals never wavered. Youngberg finished her college career by picking up a 6–4, 6–2 dub, and Kornilova followed up her impressive semifinal match with a 6–4, 6–4 win. That put Wes up 3–1, and even though all three remaining singles matches entered third sets, the Cards firmly remained in the driver’s seat.

Ultimately, it was the NESCAC Rookie of the Year who would make the championship-winning play. Guggenheim bounced back after losing the first set, winning the second set and winning a long rally to wrap up her match and earn the Cardinals their second ever NCAA D-III Championship. 

Guggenheim thought back to the championship-clinching match and what kept her going throughout the three sets.

“I just wanted to stay in the match as long as possible,” Guggenheim said. “By the end, it was just survival to get the point. It didn’t hit me until we got the shirts and hats, that ‘Wow, that just happened.’” 

Now, the Cardinals join the 2019 women’s tennis team as the two championship-winning teams in program history, as head coach Steph Yanosov finishes her first season at the helm of the program with a National Championship. The championship also caps off two impressive careers for captains Epstein and Youngberg, who were steady contributors to title-contending teams throughout their entire Wes careers. Ultimately, the combination of youth and experience was the perfect mix for the Red and Black to reach the mountaintop. 

“It was unlike any feeling I’ve ever had before,” Durkin said. “It was just overwhelming joy, pride, love, and gratefulness to be a part of something like that. Knowing that all of the work that we had put in had paid off in the most ultimate way, it was literally a dream come true.”

Max Forstein can be reached at mforstein@wesleyan.edu.

Alessandra Woo can be reached at aawoo@wesleyan.edu.