ORLANDO, Fla. --- Washington and Lee first-year Lauren Long (Carmel, Ind. / Park Tudor) opened her 2023 NCAA Singles Tournament run with a straight-set win over Katherine Wurster of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday morning, before bowing out in the second round in the afternoon.
 
Long defeated Wurster by 6-2, 6-2 set scores and not only never trailed, but Long also did not drop back-to-back games. With her win, Long clinched All-America status to become the first player to become a singles All-American as a first-year since Sonja Meighan '15 in 2012. Long later fell in three sets, 5-7, 6-0, 2-6, to Sarah Pertsemlidis of MIT in the Round of 16.
 
Long began the first set against Wurster up by a 2-0 score before Wurster got on the board in the third game. Long then won four of the final five games to take the first set. In the first, Long won three of her four service games and also claimed 3-of-3 deuce points.
 
In the second set, Long kept up the strong play by winning each of the first four games. The two players then traded two games each from games five through eight to close out the match. Long saved one deuce point in the second and claimed the match on a break point.

In her second match of the day, Long and Pertsemlidis, a 2022 NCAA Semifinalist, traded wins in each of the first four games. Pertsemlidis then won two straight games and 3-of-4 overall to take a 5-3 lead. Long fought back to take games nine and ten to tie the first-set score, but Pertsemlidis claimed the set with wins in the next two games.
 
Long roared back in the second set by not dropping a single game to tie the match at one set per side. Long landed 11-of-18 first serves in the set and also won 4-of-7 second-serve points. In the third, Long extended her games-won run to eight by winning the first two. However, Pertsemlidis battled back and won each of the next six games to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals.
 
Long concludes her rookie campaign with a record of 17-4 in all singles matches, with her loss on Friday snapping a 13-match winning streak. This concludes all match play for the W&L women's tennis program for the 2022-23 season.