c/o Wesleyan Athletics
As we approach the second half of the semester, the men’s and women’s tennis teams are nearing the end of their fall season. But with two recent tournaments, the teams remain hot on the court even as the autumn air gets more frigid.
The men’s team concluded the month of September in Maine at the 2019 ITA Regional Championships, hosted by Colby. The tournament was chock-full of Red and Black victories, highlighted by a pair of singles semifinal appearances from Zach Fleischman ’21 and Noah Lilienthal ’22.
Lilienthal, the Division III Rookie of the Year last season, has continued to play at a high level this fall. But it was Fleishman’s impressive performance, along with that of teammate Zach Lieb ’22, that was particularly encouraging.
“Fleischman and Lieb both had breakthrough tournament appearances, and their ability to join Lilienthal and compete among the best in the nation, is a huge boost of confidence for our team,” head coach Mike Fried told Wesleyan Athletics.
After several impressive performances at the MIT Invitational and complete domination at the ITA Regional Championships, the No.1 ranked women’s team headed to the three-day New England Women’s Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament (NEWITT) this past weekend.
The NEWITT, hosted by Smith College and Mount Holyoke College, is the oldest continuously run collegiate tennis tournament in the country. It features a unique format that challenges teams’ conventional strategies. The tournament has schools submit teams of two that compete first as a doubles team, and then split and each play a singles match against one of their doubles opponents. The duo that wins two of the three matches then advances to the next round.
The competition was stiff, featuring several nationally-ranked squads including No. 4 Middlebury, No. 6 Amherst, No. 9 MIT, No. 10 Brandeis, and No. 12 Tufts. The Cardinals had multiple impressive performances over the span of the weekend. Alexis Almy ’22 and Caitlyn Ferrante ’23, the No. 1 seeds of the A-flight of the tournament, impressed throughout the competition, handily defeating their first four opponents to advance to the tournament finals against an Amherst duo. Almy and Ferrante started off with an 8-4 victory in doubles but lost both singles matches in straight sets, coming up short of a title.
In the B flight, fourth-seeded first-years Sasha Gaeth and Caitlin Goldberg also battled their way to a finals appearance, taking on Amherst’s Calista Sha and Maddie Dewire. Gaeth and Goldberg fought ferociously but ultimately came up just short of a finals victory.
Despite the unique challenges the tournament creates, Fried was still satisfied with Wesleyan’s mental strength.
“[The team] did a good job focusing on the things we can control, which is a daily goal of ours,” Fried said.
After two finals appearances in the NEWITT, the team is looking up to continue their dominant play this fall.
“This gives us some nice momentum heading into the ITA Cup and I am excited to see where we go from here,” Fried said of the performance.
The men’s team is back in action on Oct. 18 when they host the Wesleyan Invitational here in Middletown. The six women who qualified for the ITA Cup last month will fly from the nest to compete in Rome, Georgia for competition beginning on Oct. 17. First-years Serim Jin and Katie Fleischman will compete in the singles competition. Two duos—Ferrante with Venia Yeung ’22, and Sophia Henderson ’22 with Kristina Yu ’22—will play in the doubles competition. Both the Wesleyan Invitational and the ITA Cup will conclude the Red and Black’s fall season until they resume play in the spring.
Nick Keating can be reached at nkeating@wesleyan.edu.