Emma Blakeley '16 (pictured) and Emma Mattson '16 played in their final match for the Bates women's tennis team on April 24, 2016 against Williams at the Wallach Tennis Center. (File photo by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College) 

LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates women's tennis team couldn't slow down defending NCAA champion Williams on Sunday, and the No. 2 nationally ranked Ephs won 9-0 at the Wallach Tennis Center.

Williams (14-3, 5-1 NESCAC), which has won seven of the past eight NCAA Division III women's tennis titles, started the match by rolling to 8-0 and 8-1 wins at second and third doubles, respectively. Bates' No. 1 duo of junior Elizabeth Erbafina (Sudbury, Mass.) and first-year Bella Stone (Concord, Mass.) put up a fight at first doubles, falling 8-5 to Julia Cancio and Hannah Atkinson. 

Playing in their final match for Bates, senior doubles duo Emma Blakeley (Hope, Maine) and Emma Mattson (Dana Point, Calif.) lost 8-1 at No. 3 doubles to Williams' Mia Gancayo and Alex Stone.

Bates (4-13, 1-6 NESCAC) was most competitive in singles play at No. 1, where sophomore Maisie Silverman (Brunswick, Maine) fell 6-2, 6-2 to Raventos; and at No. 3, where Stone fell 6-2, 6-2 to Atkinson. Junior Kate Rosenthal (Pittsburgh, Pa.) won three games at fourth singles against Leah Bush.

The Ephs will return to Lewiston for the NESCAC Tennis Championships, to be played at Wallach May 6-8. The Bobcats did not qualify for the tournament's six-team field.