MIT Hands Wellesley Tennis its First NEWMAC Defeat

WELLESLEY, Mass. – The visiting MIT tennis team handed Wellesley College its first conference loss of the season, as the Engineers topped the Blue, 6-3, on Wednesday evening in a rematch of the 2011 NEWMAC title game. MIT avenged their 5-1 loss in that match with a win indoors today at the Keohane Sports Center.

The victory keeps MIT perfect in NEWMAC play (3-0), while improving the Engineers to 4-1 overall. Wellesley, meanwhile, slips to 3-2 overall, 2-1 in the NEWMAC.

MIT held a 3-0 lead after doubles, using matching 8-3 wins in the second and third spots and rallying for a 9-7 win at one. The Engineer's Lauren Quisenberry and Victoria Tam edged out Wellesley's Sojung Lee and Diana Granger at one, despite falling behind 7-6. At two, MIT's Candace Wu and Julia Hsu topped Catherine Matulis and Suzanne Barth, while at three Michelle Dutt and Sunnie Lampl defeated Wellesley's Erica Choo and Joyce Chen.

Needing just two points to seal the match, MIT grabbed three singles victories to earn the win. At one, Vynnie Kong defeated Choo, 6-1, 6-4, while at three, Tam escaped with a 7-6(0), 7-6(10-7) win over Lee. At five, Hsu was also a winner for MIT, defeating Abby Esrock, 7-5, 6-1.

Wellesley picked up wins at two, four and six, setting the final to 6-3. At two, Granger won her match over Wu, 6-4, 6-2, while at four, Matulis was a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Dutt. At six, Barth picked up a 6-3, 6-3 win over MIT's Meghana Vasireddy.

Wellesley is back in action on Saturday, hosting NEWMAC-foe Mount Holyoke at 1:00pm. MIT also plays a conference match, traveling to Clark for a 1:00pm clash.