On October 17 the women’s tennis team traveled to Mount Holyoke and Smith College to participate in the New England Division III tournament, its final competition this fall. The annual event has a unique format where teams of two compete in a round of three matches, one doubles match and two singles matches. The winner of at least two of the matches moves on to the next round. The tournament is divided into “A”, “B”, and “C” brackets.
Although the team has made significant gains in all of its competitions this year, this last one represented a bit of a bump in the road, with the exception of Eudice Chong ’18, who continues to impress.
The “A” bracket team of Aashli Budhiraja ’18 and Nicole McCann ’18 was unable to come up with a win against a tough Amherst duo. Their doubles match was decided by the closest of margins, as they lost 7-9. In singles play, the two first-years kept it close but could not come up with the win. Budhiraja lost 3-6, 3-6, and McCann fell 3-6, 5-7. However, the pair was able to sweep its Babson competitors in a consolation match, winning all three contests.
The “B” bracket team of Dasha Dubinsky ’18 and Ella Lindholm-Uzzi ’17 dominated its opponents as its won both its doubles match and two singles matches. However, they were unable to overcome their second-round Williams opponents and lost all three matches.
In the “C” bracket, Wesleyan fielded a unique team of three players, captain Maddie James ’16, Jessica Seidman ’16, and Olivia Koh ’17. In the first round, the squad breezed by Salve Regina, as the doubles team of James and Koh won, and Seidman and James both came up with wins in singles play. The second round presented stiffer competition as the players faced Middlebury. The Wesleyan triplet was unable to continue its success and lost all three matches.
The Cardinals were able to form a second “A” bracket team composed of Eudice Chong ’18 and Helen Klass-Warch ’18. They faced intense first round opposition in a strong Williams team. The series had a rough start as Chong and Klass-Warch lost their doubles match 6-8. Klass-Warch was unable to pull it together as she lost 1-6, 3-6. Chong meanwhile had a strong showing and defeated Linda Shin in their singles matchup 7-5, 6-1.
“The first set was close,” said Chong. “I didn’t really play so well. She had some good tactics, but in the second set I got used to it.”
Shin was ranked 18th nationally in Division III last year as a first-year. Earlier this season, she was able to win the ITA tournament. In a consolation match against MIT, Chong once again faced a highly skilled player, Elysa Kohrs. Kohrs was ranked 12th nationally last year, but that didn’t stop Chong from dominating her opponent 6-2, 6-2.
Chong has continued to shine throughout this season, posting an impressive 7-1 doubles record and a 5-0 singles record.
Having grown up in Hong Kong, Chong was able to represent her city at the 2014 Asian Games this past September and although this was her first time at the games, she is no stranger to international competition.
“It was really fun,” Chong said. It was a good experience. Most of the people on the team are really young; everyone is in college as well. I’ve been playing with them since I was little. I started playing internationally when I was 11.”
As the fall portion of the team’s season comes to a close, Chong and her teammates will look to continue their strong performance in the spring.
“We’ll have tough matches, but we’ll be fine,” Chong said.
The rest of the year is filled with NESCAC matches and ends with the conference tournament, which Wes hasn’t qualified for in seven years. Based off of the results from this fall, it looks like that streak is going to be broken.