Women's Tennis finishes regular season with 11-3 mark, good enough for top six seeding in NESCAC tourney.

Lily Segal, Staff Photographer

Women’s tennis finished out their regular season matches this past weekend with strong wins over Colby and Hamilton Colleges. After such a masterful finish, the team looks forward to playing in the NESCAC Championship for the first time ever.

The Cards started the weekend at home with a match against Colby on Saturday, April 25. The team put on a stellar performance, sweeping the Mules 9-0.

Helen Klass-Warch ’18 stepped up to play in the number one singles spot for this match and defeated her Colby opponent 6-4, 6-0. Aashli Budhiraja ’18 dominated her opponent 6-1, 6-0 at the second singles position. Nicole McCann ’18 and Dasha Dubinsky ’18 took the three and four singles matches, winning 6-1, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-1, respectively. Jessica Seidman ’15 held off her Colby opponent in a decisive 6-0, 6-1 match at the number five spot, and Ella Lindholm-Uzzi ’17 won the sixth singles spot 6-1, 6-3.

In the doubles matches, the number-one pairing of Eudice Chong ’18 and Klass-Warch defeated their Colby opponents 8-1. McCann and Captain Anna Howard ’15 took the number two doubles match 8-2. In the third doubles pairing, Budhiraja and Dubinsky won 8-5.

After this strong performance against Colby, the Cards geared up for their final regular season match against Hamilton the very next day.

Chong returned at the top singles spot, winning her match, 6-0, 6-1. Klass-Warch had a tight match in the number two spot, losing the first set 4-6, and coming back to win the second, 6-1, and the third set tiebreaker, 10-3. McCann won the third singles match 6-2, 6-4, and Dubinsky won at number four, 6-1, 6-3. Seidman defeated her Hamilton opponent, 6-1, 6-4. Howard took to the court for the sixth singles match, dominating the match, 6-0, 6-1.

The doubles teams of Chong and Klass-Warch and McCann and Howard each defeated their opponents 8-1 in the one and two doubles spots respectively. The third doubles team of Budhiraja and Dubinsky fell in a tight 6-8 match to their competition, making the final score a Wesleyan win of 8-1.

Overall, the team was happy with their regular season results and overall record of 11-3 this year.

“The season went really well and we ended with an amazing record,” Seidman said. “Although there is always some room for improvement, I can confidently say that our results show that the whole team remained dedicated and focused throughout the entire season.”

While Wesleyan women’s tennis has never before been one of the top six schools to qualify for the NESCAC Championship, after this year’s regular season the Cards have qualified and may possibly make the fifth seed.

“I am very excited for this opportunity because it is our chance to make Wesleyan tennis history,” Seidman said. “Right now, we are going into NESCACs with a positive, determined mindset. We know that the competition is going to be tough, but we have already demonstrated that we can compete with the best teams in the country.”

Little Three competitors Amherst and Williams as well as Bowdoin will all be teams to beat for the Cards, since the team struggled in matches against these high power NESCAC schools earlier this season. If there are opportunities for rematches, the team will be ready to put up a good fight for the NESCAC title.

The tournament will be held at Middlebury College the first weekend of May.