Tennis Falls to Sewanee in Fab Five Tournament

LEXINGTON, Va. -- The Wellesley College tennis team closed out its spring break trip to Virginia with a hard-fought 5-2 defeat at the hands of #18 Sewanee, the University of the South, in the Fab Five Tournament at Washington and Lee. The loss, just the second of the season for the #19 Blue, dips Wellesley to 11-2 overall, while the Tigers improved to 10-3.

Wellesley fell behind 2-1 after doubles play, with the only Blue victory coming at number two. Diana Granger and Erica Choo won 8-3 over Anne Gardland and Michelle Flume, collecting their second victory of the trip.

At one doubles, Marie Watanabe and Sojung Lee fell 8-4 to Jenny Liles and Bronte Goodhue. At three, Joyce Chen and Melissa Clark dropped an 8-5 decision to Elizabeth Lucas and Mary Taylor Tepper. 

The momentum from the doubles win carried over into singles, as Sewanee took the lead in all four of the singles matches on court. At three, Clark fell 6-1, 6-1 to put the Tigers up 3-1. At one, Watanabe turned things around quickly, changing the pace of play to an aggressive baseline net attack, winning her match 6-2, 6-4, including winning six straight matches to close the second set.

Watanabe's victory narrowed the team score to 3-2, but Sewanee went ahead 4-2 after Flume topped Granger, 7-6 (4), 6-1, in the fourth flight. The Tigers then sealed the team win at two, where Goodhue pulled out a win over Choo, 6-0, 7-6 (8). The second-set tiebreaker lasted 30 shots before Choo eventually fell. 

Wellesley was ahead in both matches still on the court, but they went unfinished due to time contstraints. At five, Lee won her first set 6-3, and was ahead 4-3 in the second when the match was called. At six, Kendall Tada was ahead 1-0 when the matches were halted. 

Blue tennis is back in action on Saturday, March 31st, traveling to Amherst to take on the #2 Lord Jeffs at 1:00pm.