A year ago, the Wesleyan women’s tennis team hosted a strong Connecticut College squad who handed the Cardinals a definitive 9-0 loss. This year, the Cardinals may not have had the experience to topple to Camels, but they came within one win of taking down the Camels, as the Cards lost a close 5-4 decision Tuesday.
Wesleyan began the match on a positive note, thanks to the talented third doubles team of Ania Preneta ’09 and Alex Sirois ’09, who dominated in their 8-2 victory. The Cardinal victory was followed by two defeats at first and second doubles in hotly-contested matches. Rachael Ghorbani ’09 and Emily Fish ’09 fell 8-5, while Wesleyan’s top-ranked doubles team of Madalina Ursu ’09 and Anika Fischer ’10 suffered a devastating 9-8 match ultimately decided by a tiebreaker. The loss at first doubles proved to be costly for the Cards, as a victory at the position would have most likely pushed the overall match score in the Cardinals’ favor.
Despite the earlier losses, the Cardinals charged ahead in their singles matches. Team captain Tory Santoro ’09 easily defeated Melissa Shear ’08 in a 6-0, 6-1 match at the sixth singles spot. Fischer also won in convincing fashion at fourth singles, as she did not lose a single game in her 6-0, 6-0 victory over Jessica Bender ’10.
After a 6-1 first set victory at the second singles slot against the Camels’ Amanda Poe ’07, Ursu dropped the next set by a 6-3 margin. She won a hard fought third set tiebreaker, however, to secure the victory.
Fish fought hard at fifth singles, but ultimately fell 6-1, 6-1 to Elyssa Emsellem. Ghorbani also suffered an equally difficult 3-6, 1-6 loss to Camel Britt Fallon, who neutralized Ghorbani’s powerful and penetrating groundstrokes with her ability to chip and charge the net.
The day was equally difficult for the Cardinals’ first-ranked singles player. Preneta faced Beret Remak, one of the conference’s top players and a 2006 ITA All-American. Despite Preneta’s lethal backhand, she ultimately was downed by a more consistent Remak by a 6-2, 6-1 score.
This weekend the Cardinals travel to Amherst to compete in the New England Women’s Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament (NEWITT) Championships. The competition will begin on Friday and resume on Sunday. The conclusion of the NEWITT Championships will spell the end of the fall campaign for the Cardinals, as they resume competition in the spring.
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