Alviar and Mu Compete at ITAs for Blue Tennis

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - Facing stiff competition from many of the best Division III collegiate tennis players in New England, junior Melinda Alviar (Indianapolis, Ind.) made the second round of the ITA Regional Championship singles draw for Wellesley College tennis on Friday. The ITAs took place at Williams College on the Torrence M. Hunt '44 Tournament Courts.

The day began with Alviar and classmate Annissa Mu (Saratoga, Calif.) competing in doubles against Trinity College's Isabella Hartman (New York, N.Y.) and Josephine Kimball (New York, N.Y.). An early break would give Trinity an early 4-1 lead they never gave up. Alviar and Mu put up a good fight, but lost an 8-3 match to end their doubles run.

In her opening singles match Mu would square off with No. 7 seed Yuu Ishikawa (Los Altos, Calif.) of host Williams College. Ishikawa proved to be a formidable foe, controlling both sets of the 6-1, 6-1 match and advancing to the second round.

Alviar found success in her opening round singles match against Colby's Isabella Suk (Minnetonka, Minn.). The first set was dead even going into a 6-6 tiebreaker. The tiebreaker was as even as the set, with Suk finally cracking Alviar to win 10-8. Alviar reset the match with an important break in the middle of the second set. This break proved crucial in a 6-3 second set for Wellesey to force a ten-point tiebreaker for the match. Alviar rode the momentum of the second set with a convincing 10-1 tiebreaker to clinch the match and advance to the round of 32.

In the second round Alviar took on Caitlyn Ferrante (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) of Wesleyan. Midway though the first set Alviar broke serve to take a 4-3 lead. However, Ferrante broke back to keep the match on serve. Ferrnate won a narrow 7-5 tiebreaker to capture the set. Ferrnate capitalized on the moment and won a 6-0 second set to advance to the round of 16.

Wellesley tennis will next take the courts at the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament (NEWITT). That tournament takes place October 7-9 from the Smith College tennis courts.