Junior Justine Huang earned victories in both singles and doubles play for the Blue (Gil Talbot).
Junior Justine Huang earned victories in both singles and doubles play for the Blue (Gil Talbot).
Posted: Mar 10, 2018

No. 25 Wellesley Tennis Falls To No. 19 Brandeis In Home Opener

Team Stats
Doubles
Justine Huang / Selina Peng (WEL)
def. Olivia Leavitt / Haley Cohen (BRW)
8-5
Keren Khromchenko / Lauren Bertsch (BRW)
def. Lizzy Kong / Lily Chu (WEL)
8-4
Michele Lehat / Rachel Zubrinsky (BRW)
def. Korina Hernandez / Abigail Schleichkorn (WEL)
8-5
Singles
Justine Huang (WEL)
def. Haley Cohen (BRW)
6-3, 6-4
Keren Khromchenko (BRW)
def. Selina Peng (WEL)
6-1, 6-1
Lizzy Kong (WEL)
def. Olivia Leavitt (BRW)
6-2, 2-6, 6-2
Lauren Bertsch (BRW)
def. Sojin Ki (WEL)
6-1, 6-3
Michele Lehat (BRW)
def. Korina Hernandez (WEL)
6-3, 6-0
Rachel Zubrinsky (BRW)
def. Lily Chu (WEL)
7-6 (9-7), 6-3

WELLESLEY, Mass. – Visiting Brandeis University earned the final three victories in the match, breaking a 3-3 tie, to take a 6-3 win over Wellesley College tennis on Saturday at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse. 

No. 19 Brandeis improves to 5-2 on the season with their sixth straight victory over Wellesley. The Blue, who recently moved up to No. 25 in the latest ITA Division III National Poll, are now 3-3 on the year.

Wellesley junior Justine Huang (Coto de Caza, Calif.) and sophomore Selina Peng (Taichung, Taiwan) opened doubles with a victory for the Blue, defeating Brandeis junior Olivia Leavitt (Great Neck , N.Y.) and senior Haley Cohen (Cherry Hill, N.J.), 8-5, at No. 1 singles. However, Brandeis would strike back to take the remaining two doubles matches to take a 2-1 edge into singles play.

Junior Keren Khromchenko (Manalapan, N.J.) and first year Lauren Bertsch (Middletown, R.I.) knotted the score at 1-1 with an 8-4 victory over Wellesley first years Lizzy Kong (Mason, Ohio) and Lily Chu (Princeton, N.J.) at No. 2 doubles. The Judges then jumped to the early lead when junior Michele Lehat (Great Neck , N.Y.) and first year Rachel Zubrinsky (Waxhaw, N.C.) defeated sophomore Korina Hernandez (Tampa, Fla.) and first year Abigail Schleichkorn (Pacific Palisades, Calif.), 8-5, to close out doubles play at No. 3. 

Khromchenko opened singles play with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Peng at No. 2 to increase the Brandeis lead to 3-1, but Huang and Kong would follow with back-to-back Wellesley wins to tie the score midway through the singles matches. Huang earned a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Cohen at No. 1, while Kong defeated Leavitt in three sets at No. 3, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

Brandeis responded to the Wellesley rally by sweeping the three remaining matches to take the 6-3 win. Lehat defeated Hernandez, 6-3, 6-0 at No. 5, before Bertsch clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Blue junior Sojin Ki (Irvine, Calif.) at No. 4. Zubrinsky added the final point for the Judges with a tight 7-6 (7), 6-3 win over Chu in the No. 6 singles match.

Wellesley will host Tufts tomorrow afternoon, Sunday, March 11, at 1:00 PM at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse. Brandeis is off until Saturday, March 24, when the Judges will host Trinity (Conn.) at 2:00 PM.