AMHERST, Mass. & NORTHHAMPTON, Mass. – Wellesley College tennis saw more success on day two of NEWITT, hosted at Smith and Amherst Colleges.
In the "B" draw quarterfinals, juniors Sophie Buttorff (Tacoma, Wash.) and Nandini Patel (Phoenix, Ariz.) swept Trinity College senior Hellena Trojer (Reading, Mass.) and first-year Katherine Johnson (Marion, Mass.). Buttorff won 6-0, 6-7(8), 1-0(1) over Trojer. Patel earned a 6-4, 6-2 match versus Johnson. In doubles, the pairing won 6-4.
The Wellesley duo then took on Trinity's senior Naisha Rathi (Westbury, N.Y.) and sophomore Emilia Romano (Bayport, N.Y.) in the semifinals. Wellesley once again 3-0'd the opponent. Buttorff's 6-1, 6-2 tally over Raithi was matched by Patel taking down Romano, 6-3, 6-2. Buttorff and Patel won doubles 6-3 and have now moved into the "B" draw finals on Sunday.
Also in the "B" draw quarterfinals , sophomore Luna Bian (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) and first-year Sophia Liang (Ann Arbor, Mich.) fell 2-1 to MIT senior Nishi Gandra (Mason, Ohio), junior Anselma Petrie (Eastchester, N.Y.) and first-year Michelle Ge (San Jose, Calif.). Ge defeated Bian 6-0, 6-1 in singles and Gandra beat Liang, 6-3, 6-3. Wellesley did manage to win the doubles point, 7-6(2) and moved into the 5th-8th place bracket. There the pair won 2-1, with a 6-3 doubles win and Bian scoring a 6-4, 1-6, 1-0(7) victory in singles.
In "B" draw consolation play, seniors Lily Cade (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Kriti Sarav (Chicago, Ill.) dropped a 2-1 match to Skidmore College junior Maggie English (Harrington Park, N.J.), sophomore Mia Rosenberg (Tel Aviv, Israel) and first-year Nandini Chandra (Edison, N.J.). Cade earned a 6-7(5), 6-4, 1-0(5) decision against English, but Chandra countered by beating Sarav, 7-6(5), 6-2. In doubles, the Bantams came up with a 7-5 set to advance and send Cade and Sarav to the South Bracket Semifinal.
In the South Bracket Semifinal, Cade and Sarav were victorious, 3-0, against Smith seniors Sophia Dube (Portland, Ore.) and Sabrina Wang (Beijing, China). Sarav won 8-4, Cade won 8-1 and the duo defeated Smith 6-4 in doubles.
Seniors Veda Madhusudan (Short Hills, N.J.) and Dalia Khera (Houston, Texas) advanced to the "C" draw finals with a 2-1 win over Wheaton College seniors Laila Haraj-Sai (Madison, Conn.), Asia-Leigh Hollis (Hamilton, Bermuda) and Taylor Wilson (Dover, N.H.). Khera shut down Hollis, 6-1, 6-0, but Haraj-Sai managed a 6-4, 2-6, 1-0(7) win over Madhusudan. In doubles, the Blue came up with a 6-4 win to advance to tomorrow's final.
In the "A" draw consolation, senior Suzanne Xu (Boyds, Md.) and first-year Kakou Narita (Tokyo, Japan) had a walkover to the consolation finals.
The final day of play kicks off tomorrow at 9:00 AM.
