The women’s tennis team suffered a 7-2 defeat at the hands of Tufts on Thursday afternoon, its sixth straight defeat against the Jumbos. The teams last met at Middlebury in the quarterfinals of the 2008 NESCAC Championship, with Tufts escaping with a 5-4 win. Wesleyan is now 2-2 in the NESCAC standings and 9-5 overall, while Tufts improved to 5-2 in NESCAC play with the win.

Tufts held a 2-1 lead after the conclusion of doubles play, as the No. 3 team of Ania Preneta ’09 and Linda McDougal ’11 emerged with an 8-6 victory. Rachael Ghorbani ’09 and Casey Simchik ’10 dropped a narrow 9-8 match at No. 2, and the top team of Sarah Miller ’12 and Anika Fischer ’10 fell 8-3.

Miller was the only Cardinal to pick up a win in singles play, as she improved to 8-1 in the spring with a 5-7, 6-2, (10-2) victory at No. 3. Ghorbani dropped a narrow loss at No. 4 by scores of 6-3, 4-6, (8-10); the other four Cardinals all fell in straight sets. No. 6 Meredith Holmes ’10 fell 7-6 in her first set before dropping the second 6-1, and No. 5 McDougal had a close second set, falling 6-4 after a 6-0 defeat in the first. Fischer fell 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1, and Preneta was defeated 6-0, 6-3 at No. 2.

Wesleyan returns to action with a Saturday afternoon match against Hamilton, following the men. The Cardinals have won their last two matches against Hamilton by a combined score of 10-1; Wesleyan stands 4-1 against the Continentals overall.