After a tough loss to Colby last weekend, the women’s tennis team got back on track with a solid 6-3 win over the Hamilton Continentals on Saturday afternoon. The squad now holds an impressive 9-1 record on the year.
“We used our loss to Colby as motivation to close out Hamilton,” said Genevieve Aniello ’13. “Everyone played really well in the extremely hot weather, and was able to stay consistent in their singles matches and aggressive during their doubles matches.”
Although senior captain Anika Fischer was unable to pick up a win at the number one spot, the number two player, Sarah Miller ’12, got the ball rolling for the Cards as she won her match 6-4, 6-1. The number three player, Aniello, picked up another victory, as she took down her opponent 6-4, 6-3. Playing at the number four spot, Meredith Holmes ’10 continued the Wesleyan winning streak as she triumphed over her opponent 6-3, 6-2. The number five singles player, Linda McDougal ’11, fought her way through a challenging match, but was ultimately unable to come away with a win and finished with a 7-6, 4-6, 8-10 (tie-breaker) loss. Casey Simchik ‘10 turned things back around and wrapped things up for the Cards with a final 6-3, 6-1 win.
“In singles we all had a little trouble battling the wind,” Miller said. “But everyone was able to play really smart so that we could come away with a win.”
The Cardinals’ domination over the Continentals was also on display in the doubles rounds, as the dynamic duo playing at the number one spot, Fisher and Miller, took home a solid 8-4 victory. The number two pair, Holmes and McDougal, competed in a fierce battle, but finished with a 4-8 defeat. In the final doubles match, Aniello and Simchik composed a triumphant tandem at number three doubles, as they concluded the doubles action for the Cards with an 8-4 win over their Hamilton adversaries.
“Our doubles matches were definitely a lot stronger than last weekend,” Miller said. “One of our goals for the future is to work on winning all three doubles points in each match.”
With the win, the Cardinals improved to 6-1 overall against Hamilton and have won five in a row overall in the series. Wesleyan has never lost at Hamilton, having won all three matches played in Clinton, N.Y., by a combined score of 16-8.
“This coming week we play Tufts and Middlebury at home,” continued Miller. “Both teams are going to be extremely hard to beat, but if we play really smart and aggressive we definitely have a shot at beating them.”
The Cardinals will host Tufts on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in their opening home match of the spring.