Blue Tennis Falls To Top-Seeded MIT in NEWMAC Championship Match

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Top-seeded MIT rallied from a 2-1 deficit following doubles play to defeat second-seeded Wellesley College tennis, 5-3, in the championship match of the 2016 New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Tennis Tournament on Sunday at MIT. The title is MIT's seventh and earns the program the NEWMAC's automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division III Tennis Championship in the spring.

Wellesley got out to a 2-1 lead in doubles play, taking the No. 1 and No. 2 matches by scores of 8-2 and 8-5, respectively. Wellesley senior Carina Chen (Hong Kong) and sophomore Justine Huang (Coto de Caza, Calif.) downed MIT's Kelly Zhu (Pearland, Texas) and Lara Rakocevic (Portland, Ore.) at No. 1, while senior Andjela Stojkovic (Victoria, British Columbia) and first year Sarah Yan (Holmdel, N.J.) completed an undefeated NEWMAC season with a victory over Serena Le (Aiea, Hawaii) and Rena Liu (Oak Hill, Va.) at No. 2. 

MIT junior Sonya Das (Arden Hills, Minn.) and first year Sharlene Song (Arcadia, Calif.) earned an 8-5 win at the No. 3 spot to get the Engineers on the board, defeating Wellesley's Rosanne Hu (Sugar Land, Texas) and Selina Peng (Taichung, Taiwan).

Chen and Zhu reunited at No. 1 singles to play a thrilling three-set match. Chen took the early lead, winning the first set 7-5, but Zhu rallied to take the second set with a 6-4 win. The No. 1 singles players continued to battle back-and-forth in the third set. Chen got a 3-0 lead to open the set before Zhu rallied back to tie, eventually forcing a tiebreaker. Zhu would find late separation from Chen in the tiebreaker, holding on to take the match with a 7-4 victory that at the time made the match 4-3 in favor of MIT.

While Chen and Zhu battled on court one, the Engineers earned a pair of victories at No. 2 and No. 4 singles and the Blue earned a point with a victory at No. 3. Rakocevic cruised past Yan at No. 2, opening with a 6-3 win and closing the match with a 6-1 victory. At No. 4, Le needed a second set tiebreak to get the best of Stojkovic. After Le opened with a 6-0 sweep, the duo played to a 6-6 second set draw that ended when Le took the tiebreaker. Huang clinched Wellesley's third point at No. 3. The sophomore earned a 7-6 win over Das in the opener and took the match with a 6-3 win in the second set.

With the Engineers leading 4-3, the attention turned to the No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches. Wellesley took a first lead at No. 6 singles, when first year Korina Hernandez (Tampa, Fla.) downed first year Effie Jia (San Ramon, Calif.) 6-2. However, the No. 6 match went unfinished as Song completed a two-set victory over Peng, taking the second set 6-4 to clinch the title after opening with a 6-2 win. 

Today's match concludes the fall season for the Blue tennis team. Wellesley currently holds a 10-2 overall record and will return to action in the spring. 

2016 NEWMAC Women's Tennis Championship

Quarterfinals: 
No. 3 Babson def. No. 6 Springfield, 5-0
No. 4 Mount Holyoke def. No. 5 Wheaton, 5-0 

Semifinals: 
No. 1 MIT def. No. 4 Mount Holyoke, 5-0
No. 2 Wellesley def. No. 3 Babson, 5-2

Championship: 
No. 1 MIT def. No. 2 Wellesley, 5-3