NORTON, Mass.- The top-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) women's tennis team handed host and fourth seed Wheaton College a 5-0 loss during Saturday's first New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament semifinal match at the Clark Tennis Courts.
At 9-1, the Engineers advance to their second straight league tournament final tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m., when they will face the winner of today's second semifinal between second seed Wellesley College and third seed Babson College. Wheaton finishes its fall at 8-4.
During MIT's sweep of doubles, its first and second tandems combined to surrender just one game, including senior Candace Wu's (Yorba Linda, Calif./Valencia) and junior Julia Hsu's (Knoxville, Tenn./Farragut) blanking in the second spot.
Junior Lauren Quisenberry (Corpus Christi, Texas/Gregory-Portland) and freshman Victoria Tam (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula) won 8-1 in the top doubles position, while sophomore Michelle Dutt (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) and freshman Sunnie Lampl (Bluemont, Va./Woodgrove) collected an 8-3 victory at number three.
Needing just two singles wins to clinch the team victory, the Engineers had two of their players record 6-1, 6-0 decisions. Tam defeated junior Morgan Bell (Gloucester, Mass./Pingree School) in the third slot for a 4-0 MIT lead before Hsu beat freshman Caroline DiNicola-Fawley (Brattleboro, Vt./Brattleboro Union) in the deciding match at five.
The remaining four singles matches were incomplete, with Lyon junior Lyndsay Cooke (Bakersfield, Calif./Bakersfield Christian) clinging to a 5-4 lead in the opening set at one. After dropping her first set by a 6-3 count, Wheaton sophomore Alexandra Marlowe (Mesa, Ariz./Mountain View) led 2-0 during the second set at two.
Lyon junior Sarah Crom (Bremen, Germany/International School of Bremen) trailed Dutt by a score of 6-1, 5-0 at four, while senior teammate Jesse Boggis (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton) was losing to freshman Iris Zhuang (Allen, Texas/Plano East) at six, as Zhuang won 6-0 in the first set and led 3-1 in the second set.
