Tennis Advances to NEWMAC Championship; Blue Down MIT

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- Wellesley College will play for its sixth New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference tournament title in seven years after advancing with a 5-2 win in the semi-finals over MIT on Saturday afternoon on the campus of Smith College.

The Blue (8-2) took two of three doubles matches and four of six singles matches to advance to their second consecutive tournament final, where they will face a rematch of the 2009 final against Wheaton College (Mass.) on Sunday, October 24 at 12 p.m. 

The Engineers (5-4) stole a win at No. 1 doubles, with the duo of Julia Hsu and Lauren Quisenberry topping Jacqueline Shen and Diana Granger 8-2, but Wellesley won at No. 2 and No. 3, as the tandem of Erica Choo and Kendall Tada defeated Katie O'Neal and Melissa Diskin 8-4 at No. 2, and the pairing of Nathalie Herman and Raji Nagalla edged out Jenny Dohlman and Hillary Jenny 9-7 at No. 3.

Quisenberry grabbed MIT's other point with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles, but the Blue closed out the match with wins at Nos. 2, 3, and 5.  Choo beat Hsu 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2, while Herman recorded a 6-4, 6-0 win over O'Neal at No. 3.  Granger then beat Jenny 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5 to close out the match.  Wellesley also was winning at No. 4 and No. 6 when the match ended.

Wheaton and Wellesley, the top two seeds in the tournament, will meet at 12 p.m. on Sunday, October 24 (11 a.m. if moved indoors) for the NEWMAC tournament title.