Blue Tennis Drops Heartbreaker to Bates in Nor'Easter Bowl Finale

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Wellesley College tennis team dropped a heartbreaker to #29 Bates College, 5-4, in the Nor'easter Bowl finale for both teams. The loss dips the Blue to 8-7 overall, while the Bobcats improve to 4-6 overall.

Bates nabbed an early 2-1 lead thanks to a pair of doubles victories. At two, Jacquelyn Holms and Lucy Brennan paired up for an 8-4 win over Wellesley's Suzanne Barth and Veronica Lin. The Blue got one back with a win at number one, where Diana Granger and Sojung Lee teamed up for an 8-5 win over Elena Mandzhukova and Ashley Brunk.

Knotted at 1-1, the doubles advantage came down to a marathon number three match-up against Bates' Nicole Russell and Kristen Doerer and Wellesley's Kendall Tada and Catherine Matulis. Bates came out on top of a marathon set, taking the match in a tiebreaker, 9-8(4).

In singles, five of the six matches went to three sets, with the teams splitting the decisions to give Bates the victory. Wellesley got its wins in the even flights, while Bates grabbed wins in each of the odd flights.

At one, Bates' Mandzhukova topped Lee, 6-0, 5-7, 6-1, while at two, Wellesley's Granger defeated Holmes, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. At three, Bates' Brunk was a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4) winner over Matulis, while at four, the Blue's Barth won 7-6(5), 6-4. Rounding out the singles matches, Bates' Russell defeated Tada at five, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, while at six, Wellesley's Lin topped Audrey Grauer, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Up next for Wellesley, the team will head to Vassar College for the 2013 Seven Sisters Championship, beginning on Saturday, April 13th.


Other Nor'easter Bowl Matches:

Championship: #1 Amherst 9, #2 Skidmore 0 - Amherst won its second straight Nor'easter Bowl title with a 9-0 sweep over Skidmore. The Lord Jeffs swept doubles, and then survived some tight sets in singles to earn the victory. Both the second and fourth singles matches went three sets, with Amherst holding on for the sweep.

Third Place: #4 Trinity 8, #3 MIT 1 - Trinity captured third place with an 8-1 victory over MIT. The Bantams swept doubles play and then won five of the six singles matches to secure the victory. MIT's lone win came in the number one singles spot.

Fifth Place: #5 Brandeis 6, #7 Mary Washington 3 - Brandeis used as strong effort in doubles play to earn a 6-3 win over Mary Washington. The Judges swept doubles action, before sealing the win with three singles victories. The Eagles got their wins in the first, second and sixth singles flights.