LEWISTON, Maine – Wellesley College tennis rose to 6-1 on the season with a 6-1 victory at Merrill Gymnasium on the campus of Bates College on Saturday afternoon. The Bobcats drop to 1-4 with the loss.
Junior Emilee Pak (Chicago, Ill.) and sophomore Suzanne Xu (Boyds, Md.) started the Blue off on the right foot with a 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles over senior Olivia Gidlow (Cleveland, Ohio) and sophomore Iris Westmoreland (New Orleans, La.).
No. 1 and 3 doubles finished at nearly the exact same time, both in Wellesley's favor. First years Kotistha Modak (Chennai, India) and Sofia Corte-Real (Stamford, Conn.) knocked off seniors Lizzie Frekko (Lake Forest, Ill.) and Ava Lyon (Naples, Fla.) 6-2 at the top doubles line. Sophomores Lily Cade (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Kriti Sarav (Chicago, Ill.) capitalized on a single break at No. 3 in a 6-4 match with junior Isabella Saul (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and sophomore Elise Hepburn (Vero Beach, Fla.).
Modak got Wellesley off to a hot start in singles. The first year earned a one-sided 6-1, 6-2 victory over Westmoreland at No. 1 singles.Â
Corte-Real finished shortly after, topping Gidlow 6-1, 6-4 at No. 3 singles. Xu had the exact same scoreline at No. 2 singles in a win over Saul to give Wellesley its match-clinching fourth point.
Blue first year Sophie Buttorff (Tacoma, Wash.) rebounded after losing the first set to make it 5-0 at No. 4 singles. Buttorff dropped a 6-2 opener to Hepburn, before reversing the number in the second set. In the decider it was all Buttorff, finishing off Hepburn 6-3 in the third set.
Bates retaliated at No. 6 singles with Lyon beating Sarav 6-3, 6-4. Wellesley first year Nandini Patel (Phoenix, Ariz.) took on Frekko at No. 5 singles. Frekko won a 7-6(4) tiebreaker in the first before Patel even it up with a 7-5 second. Patel controlled the third set tiebreaker, winning 10-5 to give the Blue its sixth and final point.
Wellesley is off until Spring Break. The team's next match is Monday, March 17 in Orlando, Fla. against Denison University. Bates stays home to take on Tufts University at 4:00 PM on Friday, March 7.
