Blue Tennis Closes Home Invite with Win Over #22 Skidmore

Complete Wellesley Invitational Results

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Wellesley College tennis team closed out play at their home invitational with a 5-4 win over #22 Skidmore College. The win capped a tough two-day tournament for the Blue that featured national and regional ranked competition. On Saturday, Wellesley dropped a pair, falling 8-1 to #1 Amherst and 5-4 to NEWMAC-rival MIT.

Leading the Blue in the invite, first-year Diana Granger went a perfect 3-0 at number five singles, while classmate Erica Choo went 2-1 at number three.  Junior Marie Watanabe picked up a win over her regionally-ranked opponent from Skidmore, while each doubles team went 1-2 on the weekend.

Against Skidmore, Wellesley took a 2-1 lead after doubles. Jacqueline Shen and Watanabe were 8-3 winners over Rachel Loeb and Nataly Mendoza, while Nathalie Herman and Granger picked up a win at the two spot.

In singles, Watanabe defeated Loeb 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 at one, while at five, Granger was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Robyn Baird. Clinching the match for Wellesley, Choo defeated Mendoza, 6-4, 6-4 in the third flight.

In a tough 5-4 loss to a new-look MIT team, the Blue found themselves down 2-1 after doubles. Choo and Kendall Tada picked up the lone win for Wellesley, defeating Melissa Diskin and Katie O'Neal, 8-6.

In singles, Wellesley fell in the first two flights, but picked up wins at three, five and six. At three, Choo won 7-5, 6-1 over Julia Hsu, who played #2 for MIT this fall. Granger defeated O'Neal at five, 6-4, 6-0, and Tada toughed out a 1-6, 7-6(5), 10-8 win over Diskin at six.

Against the #1 team in the nation, Amherst, the Blue lost 8-1. In doubles, Watanabe and Shen took the #1 team in the region to a tiebreak before falling 9-8 (7-5) to Jordan Brewer and Gabby Devlin.

In singles, Granger picked up the lone win of the match for Wellesley, a 6-3, 5-7, 11-9 marathon match in the five spot. The Blue also came close to picking up wins at one and six, as Watanabe dropped a 4-6, 6-3, 10-7 match to Brewer, the top-ranked singles player in the region. At six, Tada fell in three sets, 4-6, 7-5, 10-5.

Wellesley next hosts the 2011 Seven Sisters Championship on April 9th and 10th.