NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's tennis team was defeated by visiting Wellesley College, 7-2, this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at the Clark Tennis Courts on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons dip to 9-7 overall and 3-4 in conference play, while the Blue have won four in a row and improve to 10-4 and 5-1.
Wellesley swept through doubles play to take a 3-0 lead in the dual match before singles play. The Blue won four of six singles matches to secure the victory.
Sophomore Kara Greenlee (San Antonio, Texas) battled Wellesley first year Veda Madhusudan (Short Hills, N.J.) to a three-set decision with the Wheaton sophomore coming out on top at number two singles. Madhusudan took the opening frame, 7-5, before Greenlee cruised to a 6-2 second set win. Greenlee took the final set, 10-7, in the tie-breaker. The Lyons' other point came at fourth singles, where first year Laila Haraj-Sai (Madison, Conn.) earned a 6-4, 6-3 straight set triumph over Blue first year Lily Cade (Minneapolis, Minn.).
First years Kriti Sarav (Chicago, Ill.) and Suzanne Xu (Boyds, Md.) were both double-winners to lead Wellesley.
Xu combined with sophomore Emilee Pak (Chicago, Ill.) to post an 8-3 decision at number two doubles over Wheaton's tandem of senior Mareike Mueller (Amesbury, Mass.) and first year Asia Hollis (Hamilton, Bermuda). Sarav teamed with Cade to earn an 8-2 triumph at third doubles for Wellesley over the Lyon pairing of Haraj-Sai and first year Taylor Wilson (Dover, N.H.).
Xu won in straight sets at number one singles for the Blue over Mueller, 6-1, 6-3, while Sarav dropped just one game at third singles to earn a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Wilson.
The Wellesley senior duo of Melinda Alviar (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Annissa Mu (Saratoga, Calif.) put together an 8-1 win at number one doubles to open the match over Greenlee and Wheaton sophomore Alissa Ortiz (El Paso, Texas).
The Blue's other singles wins came at fifth and sixth singles. First year Dalia Khera (Houston, Texas) won in straight sets at number five over Ortiz, 6-1, 6-3, to give Wellesley the fifth and deciding point of the match. Senior Jennifer Fan (Vancouver, B.C.) won a grueling three-set battle at number six singles over Lyon junior Izzy Kruse (Woodstock, Ga.). Kruse won the opening set with a 7-3 tie-breaker after the two netters were knotted at 6-6. Fan came back with a less stressful 6-1 result in the middle set, but it took a total of 24 games to decide the winner with Fan pulling out a 13-11 tie-breaker in the third set.
Wheaton returns to the court on Tuesday, April 23 when it heads to Babson Park, Mass. to take on NEWMAC foe Babson College at 3:00 p.m., while the Blue host Clark University in league action at 4:00 p.m. on the same day.
