WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Wellesley College tennis team posted a
9-0 victory over cross-town rival, Babson College in the New
England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) finale for
both teams. The sweep improves Wellesley to 7-2 overall, with a 6-1
mark in NEWMAC play. Babson drops to 7-3, 4-3 in the
NEWMAC.
In doubles, Wellesley's Jacqueline
Shen and Diana
Granger paired up for an 8-4 win over Sarah Whitaker
and Rebecca Stone in the first flight, while Nathalie
Herman and Raji
Nagalla were also 8-4 winners, taking the third flight
over Inna Loseva and Mikaela Stamas. In an evenly matched
second flight battle, Wellesley's Kendall
Tada and Erica
Choo inched past Ashley Lake and Monica Mercer,
9-7.
At the top of the singles ladder Shen was a 6-0, 6-1 winner over
Whitaker at one, Choo defeated Stone 7-5, 6-1 at two, and Herman
won 6-2, 6-2 over Loseva at three. Rounding out the singles
matches, Tada was a 7-5, 6-2 winner over Mercer at four, Granger
won 7-5, 6-0 at five, and Morgan
Johnstonbaugh posted a 6-1, 6-4 win in the sixth
flight.
With the victory, the Blue (7-2, 6-1 NEWMAC) locked down the
number-two seed in the NEWMAC tournament, while Babson (7-3, 4-3
NEWMAC) earns the number-four seed. Babson will host fifth-seeded
Mount Holyoke in the first round, on October 20th at 3:00pm.
Wellesley receives a bye into the semifinals where they will take
on #3 MIT on October 23rd at 3:00pm. Semifinal and final
matches will take place at Smith College.
As a tune-up for the NEWMAC tournament, both teams will next
compete in the NEWITT Tournament at Amherst on October 15, 16 and
17th.