NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's tennis team came up short in a 6-3 loss to visiting Mount Holyoke College this afternoon in the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference opener at Beard Field House on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons fall to 1-8 ovearll and 0-1 in NEWMAC play, while MHC improves to 3-3 overall and 1-0 in league play.
Mount Holyoke swept doubles play to take a 3-0 lead, before winning the first three singles contests of the day to secure the victory and a 6-0 advantage. Wheaton won the final three singles matches.
Sophomore Izzy Kruse (Woodstock, Ga.) cruised over MHC first year Cal Smith (Bridgewater, Mass.) at fourth singles, 6-4, 6-2, to put the Lyons on the board and cut the deficit to 6-1. Wheaton junior Zoe West (New York, N.Y.) gutted out a grueling three-set victory over first year Kate Vavra (Weston, Mass.) at fifth singles, winning the final two frames. Vavra edged West in the first set, 7-5, before the Lyon rebounded to win the middle frame, 6-4. West outlasted Vavra in the third set super-tiebreaker, 13-11. First year Hayley Doiron (Lowell, Mass.) closed out the match with a 6-3, 6-4 win for Wheaton over first year Kennedy Bagley-Fortner (Montclair, N.J.) at number six singles.
Sophomore Annika Chai (London, England), first year Jaskirat Kaur (Mohali, India) and senior Shweta Kiran Cavale (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) were all double winners to lead MHC. Chai teamed with Kaur at number one doubles to earn an 8-3 victory over the Lyon first year duo of Kara Greenlee (San Antonio, Texas) and Alissa Ortiz (El Paso, Texas). Chai also won at first singles with a straight set, 6-3, 6-1, effort over Wheaton junior Mareike Mueller (Amesbury, Mass.). Kaur took second singles over Greenlee, 6-2, 6-2.
Kiran Cavale combined with Smith at second doubles for an 8-4 triumph for Mount Holyoke over Mueller and West. Kiran Cavale won in singles play for MHC at number three over Ortiz in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
Bagley-Fortner and Vavra earned an 8-2 win over the Wheaton duo of Kruse and junior Katalyn Foster (Weston, Conn.) at third doubles.
The Lyons return to action when they travel to Cambridge, Mass. on Tuesday, March 28 to play conference foe Emerson College at Harvard University's courts at 3:00 p.m., while Mount Holyoke returns to the court on March 27 when it hosts Eastern Nazarene College at 4:30 p.m.
