Blue Tennis Defeats Bryn Mawr, Falls To Vassar To Finish Second at Seven Sisters

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – Wellesley College tennis defeated Bryn Mawr College, 5-0, in their opening match, but came up short, 4-1, against Vassar College to finish in second place at the 2017 Seven Sisters Tennis Championship on Sunday at Mount Holyoke's Kendall Outdoor Courts.

With the victory, the Brewers secured their 14th title and their third straight title since 2015. Wellesley went 3-1 over the weekend to improve to 13-6 on the year. Wellesley seniors Carina Chen (Hong Kong) and Andjela Stojkovic (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) were each named to the 2017 Seven Sisters All-Tournament Team.

Wellesley 5, Bryn Mawr 0

The Blue had no trouble with the Owls in their first match on Sunday, improving to 3-0 in the tournament with a sweep across all five matchups.

Senior Caroline Dickensheets (Alpharetta, Ga.) opened the match with a 6-0, 6-1, victory over Bryn Mawr first year Alice Podolsky (Camden, Maine) at No. 3 singles. The Blue then jumped to a 2-0 advantage when sophomore Rosanne Hu (Sugar Land, Texas) defeated first year Francesca Caramazza (Brookline, Mass.), 6-0, 6-2, at No. 2 singles. 

Stojkovic and classmate Dasha Kostikina (Acton, Mass.) clinched the match at No. 1 doubles, earning matching 6-1, 6-1 victories over first year Sydney Kim (Westford, Mass.) and junior Lizzie Siegle (Hillsborough, Calif.). Wellesley went on to complete the sweep with wins by sophomore Sojin Ki (Irvine, Calif.) and first year Selina Peng (Taichung, Taiwan) at No. 2 doubles and sophomore Tristan Lorich (New York, N.Y.) at No. 1 singles. 

Vassar 4, Wellesley  1

With both sides entering the final match of the weekend with matching 3-0 records, the Blue and Brewers squared off in the de facto Seven Sisters Championship. 

Vassar got out to a 2-0 lead, earning wins at No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles. Junior Kate Christensen (Los Angeles, Calif.) defeated Wellesley first year Sarah Yan (Holmdel, N.J.), 6-2, 6-2, in the top singles match, and junior Dasha Ivenitsky (South Salem, N.Y.) and first year Vista Grinde (Virginia Beach, Va.) took down Peng and Ki at No. 2 doubles, 6-2, 6-4. 

Trailing 2-1, the Blue briefly got back into the match when sophomore Justine Huang (Coto de Caza, Calif.) earned her third victory of the weekend, defeating senior Shayna Becker (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) 7-5, 6-1, at No. 2 singles. However, the Brewers clinched the match around the same time that Huang won at No. 2, when senior Connie Yoo (Irvine, Calif.) topped Wellesley first year Korina Hernandez (Tampa, Fla.), 6-4, 6-2, at No. 3 singles.

With the match out of reach, Stojkovic and Chen battled back from a 6-2 first set loss to first year Tara Edwards (Littleton, Colo.) and sophomore Morgane Flournoy (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), winning the second set by the same score. The No. 1 doubles teams played to a 6-6 tie in the deciding third set, before Vassar took the 7-6 win, and the 4-1 match win, with a 7-5 victory in the tiebreaker.

Wellesley will close out the 2016-17 season next weekend with the annual Nor' Easter Bowl tournament. The Blue will host Skidmore on Friday, April 14, at 4:00 PM and Swarthmore on Saturday, April 15, at 11:00 AM. 

Day 1 Results (Saturday, April 8)

Match 1: Mount Holyoke College def. Bryn Mawr College, 5-0
Match 2: Wellesley College def. Smith College, 4-1
Match 3: Vassar College def. Bryn Mawr College, 5-0
Match 4: Wellesley College def. Mount Holyoke College, 3-2
Match 5: Vassar College def. Smith College, 5-0 

Day 2 Results (Sunday, April 9)

Match 6: Mount Holyoke College def. Smith College, 5-0
Match 7: Wellesley College def. Bryn Mawr College, 5-0
Match 8: Vassar College def. Mount Holyoke College, 4-1
Match 9: Smith College def. Bryn Mawr, 3-2
Match 10: Vassar College def. Wellesley College, 4-1 

Final Team Standings

Champion: Vassar College  – 4-0
Runner-up: Wellesley College – 3-1
Third Place: Mount Holyoke College – 2-2
Fourth Place: Smith College – 1-3
Fifth Place: Bryn Mawr College – 0-4 

All-Tournament Team 

Tara Edwards/Morgane Flournoy, Vassar College
Dasha Ivenitsky/Vista Grinde, Vassar College
Connie Yoo, Vassar College
Carina Chen, Wellesley College
Andjela Stojkovic, Wellesley College
Ching-Ching Huang, Mount Holyoke College
Catherine Peabody, Mount Holyoke College
Margaret Anne Smith, Smith College
Sydney Kim, Bryn Mawr College
Lizzie Siegle, Bryn Mawr College