Blue Tennis Drops 6-3 NEWMAC Match at MIT

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 17 MIT held on to take a 6-3 victory over No. 31 Wellesley College tennis in a tightly contested New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) matchup on Saturday at MIT.

The Engineers took a 2-1 lead after doubles, as Wellesley and MIT split the top-two matchups before MIT took the win, 9-7, at No. 3. MIT's No. 1 pairing of juniors Dora Tzeng (Fremont, Calif.) and Sonya Das (Arden Hills, Minn.) cruised to an 8-1 win over Wellesley senior Carina Chen (Hong Kong) and sophomore Justine Huang (Coto de Caza, Calif.).

The Blue countered with an 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles, as senior Andjela Stojkovic (Victoria, British Columbia) and first year Sarah Yan (Holmdel, N.J.) defeated sophomore Kelly Zhu (Pearland, Texas) and first year Lara Rakocevic (Portland, Ore.). MIT then held on for a 9-7 win at No. 3 when junior Rena Liu (Oak Hill, Va.) and first year Serena Le (Aiea, Hawai'i) edged Wellesley sophomore Rosanne Hu (Sugar Land, Texas) and first year Selina Peng (Taichung, Taiwan).

The back-and-forth affair continued in singles play. Stojkovic was downed, 7-5, 6-1, at No. 4 by Rakocevic to open singles. Yan countered for Wellesley with a 7-6 (4), 6-3, victory over  Zhu at No. 2 to make the match 3-2. Chen then dropped a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) final in a highly competitive No. 1 singles match with Tzeng that made the score 4-2 MIT.

The Engineers clinched the match with a Le victory over first year Korina Hernandez (Tampa, Fla.), 6-4, 7-5, at No. 6, but not before Huang earned the Blue another singles win with a 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, victory over Das at No. 3. The Engineers then closed out the 6-3 final when first year Sharlene Song (Arcadia, Calif.) defeated Peng, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3, at No. 5.

Wellesley continues the NEWMAC season tomorrow, Sunday, September 11, at 11:00 AM at Mount Holyoke. MIT will host Springfield in conference play tomorrow at 12:00 PM.