NORTON, Mass.- The Wheaton College women's tennis team won five of six singles matches en route to a 6-3 victory over visiting Simmons College during each team's season opener Saturday afternoon at the Clark Tennis Courts.

Wheaton junior Lyndsay Cooke (Bakersfield, Calif./Bakersfield Christian) and sophomore Alexandra Marlowe (Mesa, Ariz./Mountain View) kicked things off with an 8-0 triumph at the top doubles spot, but the Sharks bounced back to win the second and third slots to carry a 2-1 advantage into singles play.

Lyon juniors Morgan Bell (Gloucester, Mass./Pingree School) and Sarah Crom (Bremen, Germany/International School of Bremen) dropped an 8-6 decision at number two to senior Sabrina Salmela (Beverly, Mass./Beverly) and freshman Rachel Downey (Groveland, Mass./Pentucket Regional).

Sophomore Kathryn Burleson (Osterville, Mass./Cape Cod Academy) and freshman Caroline DiNicola-Fawley (Brattleboro, Vt./Brattleboro Union) had a similar fate in the third doubles position, suffering an 8-6 setback to freshmen Katherine Crowley (Reading, Mass./Reading Memorial) and Casey Gilman (Hampstead, N.H./Pinkerton Academy).

In singles, Cooke and DiNicola-Fawley gave up just one game in their wins in the first and fifth spots, respectively, while Marlowe knocked off Salmela by a 6-2, 6-1 count at two.  Senior Jesse Boggis (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton) won 6-3, 6-0 in the sixth position, and Crom needed three sets to emerge victorious at four.  She notched a 4-6, 6-4, 11-9 win.

Bell lost in three sets to freshman Meghan Cokely (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) in the third spot, as Cokely came away with a 10-3 tiebreaker victory in the decisive third set.

Wheaton heads to non-conference opponent Nichols College on Wednesday for a 4:00 p.m. start.