Tennis Wins Fifth-Straight Match; Blue Sweep Babson

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Wellesley College tennis team posted a 9-0 victory over cross-town rival, Babson College in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) finale for both teams. The sweep improves Wellesley to 7-2 overall, with a 6-1 mark in NEWMAC play.  Babson drops to 7-3, 4-3 in the NEWMAC.

In doubles, Wellesley's Jacqueline Shen and Diana Granger paired up for an 8-4 win over Sarah Whitaker and Rebecca Stone in the first flight, while Nathalie Herman and Raji Nagalla were also 8-4 winners, taking the third flight over Inna Loseva and Mikaela Stamas.  In an evenly matched second flight battle, Wellesley's Kendall Tada and Erica Choo inched past Ashley Lake and Monica Mercer, 9-7.

At the top of the singles ladder Shen was a 6-0, 6-1 winner over Whitaker at one, Choo defeated Stone 7-5, 6-1 at two, and Herman won 6-2, 6-2 over Loseva at three.  Rounding out the singles matches, Tada was a 7-5, 6-2 winner over Mercer at four, Granger won 7-5, 6-0 at five, and Morgan Johnstonbaugh posted a 6-1, 6-4 win in the sixth flight.

With the victory, the Blue (7-2, 6-1 NEWMAC) locked down the number-two seed in the NEWMAC tournament, while Babson (7-3, 4-3 NEWMAC) earns the number-four seed. Babson will host fifth-seeded Mount Holyoke in the first round, on October 20th at 3:00pm.  Wellesley receives a bye into the semifinals where they will take on #3 MIT on October 23rd at 3:00pm.  Semifinal and final matches will take place at Smith College.

As a tune-up for the NEWMAC tournament, both teams will next compete in the NEWITT Tournament at Amherst on October 15, 16 and 17th.