ORLANDO, Fla. – No. 35 Wellesley College tennis picked up a notable 6-1 victory over No. 23 Denison University at the USTA National Campus on Monday morning. After falling 2-1 to lose the doubles point, the Blue (7-1) made a statement by taking all six singles points over the Big Red (3-3).
Wellesley sophomores Lily Cade (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Kriti Sarav (Chicago, Ill.) started doubles off with a one-sided 6-1 win over sophomore Dasha Chistyakova (Dublin, Ohio) and senior Caroline Kittle (Indianapolis, Ind.).
Denison answered back by taking the doubles set at the No. 1 and 2 lines. In the top doubles match, Big Red sophomore Maia Nowicki (Des Plaines, Ill.) and junior Peyton Oda (Elk Grove Village, Ill.) took a 6-2 decision over Blue first-years Kotistha Modak (Chennai, India) and Sofia Corte-Real (Stamford, Conn.). Senior Caroline Lopez (Los Angeles, Calif.) and first year Charlotte Johns (Northampton, United Kingdom) took down junior Emilee Pak (Chicago, Ill.) and sophomore Suzanne Xu (Boyds, Md.) 6-4 to collect the doubles point for the Big Red.
Modak immediately went to work erasing Wellesley's deficit. The first year improved to 6-0 this season when playing No. 1 singles with a 6-0, 6-2 scoreline over Oda.
Classmate Sophie Buttorff (Tacoma, Wash.) made it 2-1 Blue by getting by Chistyakova, 6-4, 7-6(8) at No. 4. Buttorff is now 2-0 in tiebreakers this season.
At No. 2, Xu pushed Wellesley's margin to 3-1 with a straight sets 7-6(1), 6-2 win over first year Caitlin VanWinkle (Indianapolis, Ind.).Â
 First-year Nandini Patel (Phoenix, Ariz.) locked up the win for the Blue at No. 5 singles. The first year dropped a 6-3 opening set to Kittle before dialing in with a key late break in a 7-5 second. After getting to 4-4 in the third, Patel snatched the final two games to seal the match.
Corte-Real and First-year Rianna Mariotti (Forest Hills, N.Y.) each dug deep to win after dropping first sets. Corte-Real came back against Johns at No. 3 singles, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. Mariotti played a nearly three-hour marathon match with Lopez at No. 6, coming up with a 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) tally.
The Blue will return to the USTA National Campus for a 5:00 PM match with No. 37 Hope College on Wednesday, March 19. Denison has a second match later today with Indiana University Kokomo.
