Posted: Oct 22, 2011

Blue Tennis Advances to NEWMAC Finals; Defeat Wheaton 5-1

BABSON PARK, Mass. -- Wellesley College advanced to the conference finals for the eighth straight season as the top-seeded Blue ousted fourth-seeded Wheaton College, 5-1, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Tennis Tournament Semifinals held at Babson College on Saturday.

Wellesley is now 9-1 on the season, while Wheaton closes out its fall with a mark of 8-4.

Wheaton's top tandem of sophomore Lyndsay Cooke and first-year Alexandra Marlowe earned an 8-2 win over Wellesley's duo of senior Marie Watanabe and first-year Sojung Lee at number one. However, Wellesley's pairings of sophomore Diana Granger and first-year Emily Bary earned an 8-0 sweep at number two and first-years Melissa Clark and Joyce Chen joined forces on an 8-4 win at three to give the Blue a 2-1 edge heading into singles play.

The bottom half of Wellesley's lineup put the match away, as they each recorded straight-set wins. Granger won her match at number four, 6-3, 6-2, Lee added a 6-2, 6-1 win at five, and sophomore Kendall Tada coasted, 6-0, 6-1, at six as the Blue secured the 5-1 overall victory.

Wellesley will now take on the winner of Saturday's second semifinal match between second-seeded MIT and third-seeded Babson. The Championship Match will take place on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Babson's Farwell Courts.

Head Coach Brian Kuscher discusses the semi-final match:

Release Courtesy Babson Sports Information