Lyons push season opener win streak to 13 years
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Wheaton College women's tennis team downed Simmons College, 8-1, in non-conference action at Harvard University on Saturday afternoon to push its win streak to 13 years in season opening matches.
Wheaton's last loss in a season opening match came against MIT on September 9, 2000, a 9-0 loss at home. The Lyons went on to defeat Stonehill College, 5-4, on September 8, 2001 starting their 13 year streak. During that span, Wheaton is 5-0 against Simmons, 3-0 versus Salve Regina, 3-0 against Plymouth State University and 2-0 versus Stonehill.
Junior Alexandra Marlowe (Mesa, Ariz./Mountain View) and senior Lyndsay Cooke (Bakersfield, Calif./Bakersfield Christian) claimed an 8-2 victory at No.1 doubles over Simmons' senior Margaret Teague (Manchester, N.H./Manchester Central) and sophomore Meghan Cokely (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) to get the match underway.
The Sharks duo of freshman Sofie Epshtein (Newton, Mass./Newton South) and sophomore Rachael Downey (Groveland, Mass./Pentucket) notched a 9-7 triumph against Lyons' freshman Amanda Brazell (Las Vegas, Nev./The Meadows School) and senior Morgan Bell (Gloucester, Mass./Pingree School) at No.2 doubles, but it was all Wheaton for the remainder of the match.
Seniors Jessica Moore (Middletown, R.I./The Prout School) and Sarah Crom (Bremen, Germany/International School of Bremen) dealt freshman Theresa Reinhard (Canton, Ohio/St. Thomas Aquinas) and sophomore Caroline Khoury (Portsmouth, Ohio/Portsmouth) an 8-6 loss at No.3 doubles, while Crom also won her No.5 singles match over freshman Cathy Baker (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) by a 6-2, 6-1 score.
Marlowe defeated Teague at No.1 singles, 6-1, 6-1, and Cooke made quick work of Reinhard at No.2 singles producing a 6-1, 6-0 victory.
At No.3 singles, Bell earned a comeback win against Cokely losing the first set 2-6, before bouncing back 7-5 and 10-7. Brazell turned away Downey in her first career collegiate singles match at No.4 with a 6-2, 6-2 score.
Sophomore Caroline DiNicola-Fawley (Brattleboro, Vt./Brattleboro Union) rounded out singles play at No.6 with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over sophomore Katie Crowley (Reading, Mass./Reading Memorial).
Wheaton (1-0) hosts Nichols College on Wednesday, September 4 at 4 p.m. in its home opener at Clark Tennis Courts. Simmons (0-1) takes on Mount Holyoke on Monday, September 2 at noon.
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