NORTON, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's tennis team came back from being down in three singles matches to pull out a 7-2 victory over visiting Emerson College in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference action this afternoon at the Clark Tennis Courts on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass. The Lyons improve to 4-8 overall and 1-1 in league play, while the Lions fall to 5-7 and 0-2.
Although Wheaton held a 4-2 lead after winning two of three doubles and two of the first three singles matches, the home team was trailing in the final three singles matches before winning them all to claim victory in the dual match.
Sophomore Zoe West (Flushing, N.Y.) split the first two sets at number six singles with Emerson first year Gabrielle McGovern (Woodbridge, Conn.), winning the first frame, 6-3, before dropping the second set by the same score. West trailed in the final set, 3-2, before climbing ahead and then eventually being tied at 6-6 to send it into a tie-breaker. The second-year player again showed her mettle after being down 3-1 to start the breaker, she won five of the next six points to take a 6-4 lead. McGovern battled back to knot the tie-breaker at 6-6, before West won the final two points to pull out an 8-6 win in the tie-breaker to take the set, 7-6, and give the Lyons the deciding fifth point.
West, first year Izzy Kruse (Woodstock, Ga.), senior Miriam Galindo Cerrada (Madrid, Spain) and sophomore Mareike Mueller (Amesbury, Mass.) were all double-winners for Wheaton.
Senior Alexis Acosta (Albuquerque, N.M.) also turned in a come-from-behind triumph at second singles for the Lyons, dropping the opening set, 7-6 (3) to senior Anne Woodbury (Salinas, Calif.), before taking the final two frames, 6-3, 6-3. Galindo Cerrada took her cue from her classmate after falling in the first set at number one singles to sophomore Maria Nikolishin (Russia). She dropped the first frame, 6-4, before grinding out a 7-5 second-set win and a 6-4 effort in the final set for the win and the final point of the day.
Mueller and Kruse each won their singles matches in straight sets for Wheaton to give the Norton school a 4-1 lead. Mueller defeated sophomore Fuschia Faulding Steward (New York, N.Y.), 6-3, 6-2, at fourth singles, while Kruse ran her singles win streak to three straight, downing junior Sophie Oglensky (Port Monmouth, N.J.) at fifth singles, 6-1, 6-3.
First year Ava Mirisola (Kingston, Mass.) scored the Lions' only point in singles play with a three-set comeback win at third singles over Wheaton senior Katie Steinberg (Cumberland, Maine). Steinberg won the first set, 6-3, before Mirisola regrouped for a convincing 6-1 second-set win and a 6-2 effort in the third.
West and Kruse had little trouble at number three doubles for the Lyons with an 8-1 win over Mirisola and McGovern for their fourth consecutive doubles win, before Galindo Cerrada and Mueller combined for an 8-4 triumph at first doubles over Nikolishen and Oglensky. Woodbury and Faulding Steward salvaged a point in doubles play for Emerson with an 8-5 win at number two over Acosta and Steinberg.
Wheaton returns to the courts on Saturday, April 9 when it hosts NEWMAC foe Smith College at 10:00 a.m., while the Lions host Springfield College in league play on April 8 at 3:00 p.m.
