Wellesley Tennis Ends Fall as NEWMAC Runner-Up

NORTON, Mass.- The MIT women's tennis team captured its first NEWMAC Tournament championship since 2002, as the top-seeded Engineers notched a 5-0 victory over second seed Wellesley College during Sunday's title match at Wheaton College's Beard Field House.
 
Winning its fourth NEWMAC Tournament championship in the league's 15-year history, MIT secures the conference's automatic bid into May's NCAA Tournament.  The Engineers improve to 10-1, while Wellesley slips to 8-3.
 
At the conclusion of today's match, Engineer freshman Victoria Tam was named the NEWMAC Tournament's Most Outstanding Player.  Tam was the lone player to garner four points over the weekend.
 
The Blue played the Engineers tough during doubles action, with junior Erica Choo and sophomore Joyce Chen taking MIT senior Candace Wu and junior Julia Hsu to a tiebreaker in the second spot before losing 9-8.
 
In the top position, Tam and Engineer junior Lauren Quisenberry knocked off Blue Junior Diana Granger and sophomore Sojung Lee, 8-6.
 
Third doubles was 8-5 in MIT's favor, as sophomore Michelle Dutt and freshman Sunnie Lampl downed sophomore Veronica Lin and first-year Suzanne Barth.

In singles, Quisenberry defeated Granger by a 6-1, 6-0 count in the top spot.  The clinching match came in the fourth position, where Tam recorded a 6-4, 6-0 triumph over Barth.
 
Incomplete matches took place at second, third and fifth singles.  Sixth singles was just getting underway when the match was decided.  At number two, sophomore Vynnie Kong held a 6-3, 4-0 lead over Choo.
 
Wu lost 6-3 to Lee in the opening set at third singles but held a 5-3 edge in the second set, while Dutt held a 6-4, 5-0 advantage over Chen at number five.

Today's match concludes the fall portion of the schedule for the Blue. The team will resume play in the spring.