Wellesley Tennis Wins NEWMAC Regular Season Title; Defeats Babson

BABSON PARK, Mass. – The Wellesley College tennis team picked up a 7-2 win over Babson College in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) match Tuesday afternoon at Farwell Courts. 

With the win, Wellesley College (7-1, 7-0 NEWMAC) capped off an undefeated season in NEWMAC play and will enter the conference tournament as the top seed. The Beavers, who finished their conference schedule at 9-3 overall and 4-3 in the NEWMAC, will be seeded fourth and will take on fifth-seeded Mount Holyoke in the conference quarterfinals at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 25. The winner of that contest will then face Wellesley in the semifinals at 2 p.m. with the victor advancing to Sunday's championship match at 11 a.m. All NEWMAC Tournament contests will be played at Mount Holyoke.

Wellesley started off strong winning all three doubles matches. Jennifer Schwarzkopf (Hinsdale, Ill.) and Mohana Siddique (Chevy Chase, Md.) won 8-4 at the one spot. Grace Cheng (Columbia, Md.) and Maria Wantanabe (Houston, Texas) won at the number two spot 8-5, and Shivani Saxena (Milan, Italy) and Jacqueline Shen (Calgary, Alberta, Calif.) teamed up for the 8-2 win at the third singles spot.

The Blue carried their momentum into the singles matches winning the first four. Schwarzkopf, Saxena, Siddique, and Nathalie Herman (San Francisco, Calif.) all won their matches in straight sets. Babson first-years Rebecca Stone (Dover, Mass.) and Auna Denson (Houston, Texas) won the only points of the day for Babson in third-set suberbreakers at the five and six spots, respectively. Stone held on for a 6-2, 1-6, (10-5) win, while Denson rallied from a set down to win 2-6, 6-4, (10-2).

Wellesley College Tennis
October 14, 2008

Wellesley 7, Babson 2

Doubles
1. Jennifer Schwarzkopf/Mohona Siddique (WEL) def. Heather Walsh/Courtney Farrell (BAB) 8-4
2. Marie Wantanabe/Grace Cheng (WEL) def. Jes Huang/Kali Hogan (BAB) 8-5
3. Shivani Saxena/Jacqueline Shen (WEL) def. Liz Sheerin/Rebecca Stone (BAB) 8-2
*4. Dara Azuma/Katie Ching (WEL) def. Ashley Lake/Caroline Hobert (BAB), 8-1
*5. Nathalie Herman/Malike Hayashi (WEL) def. Rachel Kantor/Natalia Benadetti (BAB), 8-1

Singles
1. Jennifer Schwarzkopf (WEL) def. Courtney Farrell (BAB) 6-4, 6-3
2. Shivani Saxena (WEL) def. Jes Huang (BAB) 6-3, 6-3
3. Jacqueline Shen (WEL) def. Heather Walsh (BAB) 6-0, 6-2
4. Mohona Siddique (WEL) def. Kali Hogan (BAB) 6-0, 6-1
5. Rebecca Stone (BAB) def. Nathalie Herman (WEL) 6-2, 1-6, 1-0 (10-5)
6. Auna Denson (BAB) def. Katelyn SweeneyChing (WEL) 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-2)
*7. Malika Hayashi (WEL) def. Ashley Lake (BAB), 6-0, 6-1
*8. Dara Azuma (WEL) def. Natalia Benadetti (BAB), 6-1, 6-1

*Exhibition