Wellesley Tennis Advances to NEWMAC Championship Match
NEWMAC SEMIFINALS
#1 Wellesley College def. #4 Babson College, 5-0
Top seeded Wellesley cruised to a 5-0 victory over fourth seeded Babson College in one semifinal matchup. The Blue swept the doubles matches and later added two singles wins to seal things. They were paced by first year Marie Watanabe and junior Mohona Siddique, who each picked up victories in their respective singles and doubles contests.
Wellesley got things going with three doubles triumphs. Siddique teamed with senior Jennifer Schwarzkopf at the number one slot. The duo downed Babson seniors Heather Walsh and Courtney Farrell 8-3. In the number two tilt, Watanabe and classmate Grace Cheng downed junior Jessica Huang and senior Kali Hogan 8-2. Rounding things out were sophomores Shivani Saxena and Jacqueline Shen, who picked up an 8-5 third doubles win over junior Liz Sheerin and first year Rebecca Stone.
On the singles side, the Blue grabbed two quick wins to put an end to the match. Watanabe breezed to a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Farrell at the number one spot, while Siddique handed first year Auna Denson a 6-1, 6-0 setback at the sixth slot. The remaining singles contests went unfinished.
Babson rounded out its fall slate with an overall record of 5-6. The Beavers went 3-4 in league play.
#2 MIT def. #3 Wheaton College, 5-2
On the other half of the draw, second seeded MIT secured its position in the NEWMAC Championship with a 5-2 triumph over third seeded Wheaton. Senior Yi Wang won at both singles and doubles to lead the way for the Engineers.
MIT earned victories in two of the three doubles contests to gain an early advantage. Wang paired up with classmate Karina Pikhart at the number three slot. The pair downed sophomore Ellen Van Faasen and senior Mallory Farmer 8-3 to get things going. Junior Anisa McCree and sophomore Melissa Diskin chipped in with an 8-4 win over first year Allesandra DiOrio and junior Katherine Knies in the number two contest. Wheaton got on the board by way of a number one doubles win by sophomores Sarah Geocaris and Catherine Teague, who edged junior Leslie Hansen and first year Anastasia Vishneveysky 8-6.
The Engineers tacked on three singles points to ice things. Vishnevetsky topped Teague 6-3, 6-1 at the number two spot, and Wang downed Van Faasen 6-2, 6-3 in the number four tilt. First year Alex Hall added a 6-0, 6-3 win over Farmer at the sixth position. Wheaton's lone singles win came from DiOrio, who took care of Diskin 6-3, 6-1 at the third slot. The remaining singles matches went unfinished.
Wheaton closed out its fall schedule with an overall record of 11-3. The Lyons went 5-2 in league play.