Wellesley Tennis Opens 2018-19 Campaign at ITA Regional Championships

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Wellesley College tennis got the 2018-19 season underway on Friday at the 2018 ITA Women's Tennis New England Regional Championships, hosted by Williams College on the Torrence M. Hunt Courts.

The Blue are one of nineteen teams in New England with student-athletes competing in the 64-player singles tournament. The doubles tournament features 32 teams. Both draws are single elimination with both the singles and doubles champions earning ITA All-America honors and a spot in the 2018 Oracle Cup. 

In the doubles bracket, senior Justine Huang (Coto de Caza, Calif.) and first year Michaela Markwart (Hanover, Mass.) opened the season with an 8-6 victory over Julia Marks (Menlo Park, Calif.) and Devon Wolfe (Darien, Conn.) of Bowdoin, while first years Libby Chang (San Marino, Calif.) and Michelle Shen (Dallas, Texas) dropped an 8-4 final to the seeded duo of Christina Puccinelli (New York, N.Y.) and Ann Martin Skelly (Charleston, S.C.) of Middlebury. Huang and Markwart will return to action in the second round of the doubles draw on Saturday against the winner of an opening round clash between Amherst and Brandeis.

Huang, Chang, and Shen also participated in the singles draw, with Shen advancing to the second round to take on Kristina Yu (New Braunfels, Texas) from Wesleyan after earning a 6-4, 6-3 win over Middlebury's Nora Dahl (Oslo, Norway). Shen's run came to an end with a 6-1, 6-0 setback to Yu. Huang fell in the first round to seventh-seeded Patricia Obeid (New York, N.Y.) of Tufts, 6-4, 6-3, and Chang dropped a 6-4, 6-2 decision in her opener. Both Huang and Chang will play in Saturday's consolation round. 

Action at the ITA Regional Championships continues tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM.