The women’s tennis team suffered another unfavorable weekend, as they lost to the Middlebury Panthers at the Vine Street courts on Saturday morning. The Cardinals were only able to win a single set, resulting in a final score of 0-9. This was the Cardinals’ third defeat of the season, setting them to 1-3 in the NESCAC and 9-3 on the year.

The singles rounds proved difficult for the Cards, as they were only able to pick up a single set win against the Panthers. Wesleyan’s number one player, Anika Fischer ’10, played a competitive match against Middlebury’s top player, freshman Alexandra McAtee, which resulted in a 3-6, 1-6 loss for the Cards. Sarah Miller ’12 also had an intense matchup at the number two spot, but was unable to hold on long enough and eventually fell to a 5-7, 2-6 decision. The number three player, Genevieve Aniello ’13, played a hard-fought match as she battled until the very end, but ultimately came up short with a 2-6, 4-6 loss. Playing at number four singles, Meredith Holmes ’10 fell behind early on and was unable to come back as she lost her first set 0-6 and her second set 1-6. At the number five spot, Linda McDougal ’12 also struggled to come away with a win as she lost both her sets 6-2. The number six player, Casey Simchik ’10, lost her first set 2-6, but then managed to regain her footing and win her second set 6-2. Unfortunately, Simchik was unable to come away with the win, as the final pro-set tiebreaker resulted in a score of 5-10 favoring the Panthers.

The Cardinals could not get the doubles matches to go their way either, and lost all three doubles points to the Panthers. Wesleyan’s leading players, Fischer and Miller, went head to head against Middlebury’s top two, but the Panthers took the lead early on and did not slow down, leaving the Cards with a 2-8 loss. The number two pair, Aniello and McDougal, played a solid match and came close to tying things up at the end, but were unable to pull through and took home a 5-8 defeat. Taylor Morales ’13 stepped back on the courts for the second time in two weekends, as she teamed up with Simchik for the final doubles match of the day.

Morales and Simchik played a fierce match, but unfortunately could not hold on in the end and finished with a 4-8 loss.

Although the Cardinals were not satisfied with their performance against the Panthers, the matches helped them realize what they need to work on and how they can continue to improve their game.

“I think we’re playing better than we were at the beginning of the season, but we’re still nowhere near the level we should be playing at,” Miller said. “We just switched around our doubles teams, so hopefully once we get more practice we will start to do better.”

With only five matches left until the NESCAC tournament, the Cards are looking to eliminate all of their areas of weakness and get their winning streak rolling once again. Wesleyan’s next contest will be an away match against the Conn. College Camels (6-4) on Saturday.