After a fifth NESCAC title in as many years and an appearance in the NCAA Division III (DIII) National Championship Final, the Wesleyan women’s tennis team had a lot to be proud of in the 2023–24 season. With the new year on the horizon, the team shifted gears from basking in the glory of their past season’s success to focusing on what’s ahead.
The Cards found success in the fall as four Cardinals traveled to Rome, Ga. for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Cup. Reigning NESCAC Rookie of the Year Jackie Soloveychik ’27 captured the singles title, capping off a great start to the Cards’ 2024–25. Heading into the spring, the Red and Black were looking to build off a strong fall and turn it into another successful NESCAC season.
“Everyone had in mind that all the little things we were doing everyday were going to eventually add up and pay themselves off during the season,” Soloveychik said. “Towards the start of the spring, we were able to buy into this idea we had last year of being a team that cares about each other, on and off the court, and then showing up with joy, gratitude, and a [strong] work ethic every day.”
While last year’s roster only had one graduating senior, and this year the team gained three first-years, injuries would plague the team early. At least five different Cardinals were sidelined by injuries in the fall season or during the winter, with at least two out for the rest of the season. Even with this rough stretch of injuries, everyone’s presence during matches has helped the team regardless of whether they are on the court or not.
“Even though they aren’t playing or practicing, they are always there supporting us,” Natalia Leroy ’28 said. “It’s not like just because they don’t play, they don’t come to practices or matches. They’re always there, and that extra support is really important.”
The season started earlier than usual for the Cards, as they were invited to the ITA Indoor National Championship from Friday, Feb. 28 to Sunday, March 2, 2025. The team traveled down to Memphis, Tenn. to compete in the tournament, one of the first teams in NESCAC history to qualify for the competition.
Even with the momentum from the fall, it was not a picture-perfect start for the Cards. Facing No. 6 nationally ranked Emory University, whom the Red and Black defeated in the Elite Eight of last year’s National Championship, the Cards were immediately at a disadvantage, considering this was their first match of the season, but Emory’s fifth. Wes started out slow, losing all three doubles matches rather quickly. While singles wins from Leila Epstein ’26, Lane Durkin ’27, and Olivia Chalik ’28 helped the Cards claw their way back into the match, it was not enough, as the Eagles won the battle of the birds, 4–3.
Despite the early season loss, the team remained optimistic as they looked ahead.
“Overall, I’m proud of how we showed up,” Soloveychik said. “Starting off the first match of the season is, first of all, a big honor, and also a completely different approach to the season. Emory is a great team, and when another team has played more matches than you, it creates this match toughness that made them a bit more comfortable in that match setting that we needed a few matches to get into.”
The Cards played two more games while down in Memphis, first against Sewanee: The University of the South and second against Johns Hopkins University. They were able to bounce back in doubles, this time winning all three matches, and then picked up wins at first, second, and third doubles to secure the 5–2 victory. The next day, the Red and Black picked up two wins on doubles, just enough to get the first point of the overall match, and then Soloveychik, Durkin, and Leroy all nabbed singles wins to earn Wes’ second victory, 4–0.
Leroy was proud of how the team persevered after the loss to pick up two more wins on the road trip.
“We learned a lot from that match against Emory,” Leroy said. “After that match, we realized we needed to be more present with each other. We applied everything we learned to the next couple of matches, and they went our way. Especially the match against [Johns] Hopkins, that was really clean, and it gave a lot of confidence going forward.”
Before heading down to Virginia for their annual Spring Break trip, the Cards began their NESCAC season with home matches against No. 21 Bowdoin and Colby. Against the Polar Bears, Wes took the early lead by sweeping doubles, but Bowdoin fought back, winning two of the first three singles matches to even up the overall match score at two apiece. The Red and Black went into overdrive, and they swept the last three matches on their way to a 5–2 win.
Colby was victim to the Cards’ first of five 7–0 sweeps so far this season, as Wes dominated from the jump and won every single match played. Alexandra Burnett ’27 applauded the team’s ability to use the momentum from doubles and carry it over to their singles play.
“Bowdoin and Colby are very solid teams, so we just worked on showing up the way we wanted to with our systems and standards,” Burnett said. “We do exactly what we need to do, and to [win] those first two matches at home was pretty neat.”
Now 4–1, the Cardinals traveled to Newport News, Va. for their annual spring break trip. With five matches in five days on the horizon. First was No. 17 Christopher Newport University, and the Cardinals started strong, winning two of three doubles matches. In singles, the team flat out destroyed the Captains, with a third-set tiebreak victory from Soloveychik at first singles, adding the cherry on top of a 7–0 win.
Next was Johns Hopkins, whom the Cards had already swiftly defeated in Tennessee. Having already played them this year, the Red and Black prepared for a much tougher battle, which was apparent after the Blue Jays took the doubles point. The Cards nevertheless stood their ground, capturing five of six singles wins to the tune of a 5–2 victory. The next day, they completely swept out Hope College, including a 6–0, 6–0 victory from Burnett at fifth singles.
Their closest match of the trip was against No. 7 Washington & Lee University. Wes jumped out to an early lead, winning all three doubles matches, but the Generals fought their way back in singles. Despite the Cards dropping two matches in third-set tiebreakers at first and third singles, they were able to hold on after wins at second, fifth, and sixth singles and take the match, 4–3.
Burnett talked about the pressure of that match, and how the Cardinals were able to come out of it with a win.
“You never know what’s gonna come your way when you step on the court,” Burnett said. “There are going to be challenges, there’s gonna be adversity. So you just have to be super resilient. When the moments of pressure came our way, we did a better job handling it than they did.”
The Cardinals wrapped up their time in Virginia with a 7–0 sweep of No. 18 New York University (NYU), putting them at 9–1 as they prepared to enter the bulk of the NESCAC regular season.
On March 29–30, they hosted Hamilton and No. 12 Amherst. The Cards once again dominated doubles and carried their momentum into singles. A 6–0, 6–1 win at No. 4 singles by Lucinda Gatsiounis ’28 put Wes in the driver’s seat against the Continentals, as they took care of business in a 7–0 win.
The Cards had a much closer match against the Mammoths. They took two of three doubles matches, highlighted by a 6–0 win from Sarah Youngberg ’26 and Durkin at first doubles. Despite an early loss at first singles, the Cardinals were able to grab four of six singles wins and achieve a 5–2 dub.
After a swift 6–1 win the next weekend against Conn. College, the Red and Black geared up for another two-match weekend on April 12–13 against No. 11 Tufts and Bates. Over the course of the weekend, the Cards only lost two total matches—one doubles and one singles—on their way to a 6–1 rout of the Jumbos and a 7–0 masterclass against the Bobcats.
“At this point, we are really solid in our identity as a team: we know what our job is, and we know what we need to do,” Burnett said. “We’ve finally figured out our strategies together, and it’s really clicking right now with the support of our teammates and coaches. We were so confident [against Tufts and Bates] and had so much energy. I’m really proud of the way we showed up in those matches.”
Their most recent match was this past Saturday, April 19, against Trinity. Beforehand, the team honored Renna Mohsen-Breen ’25 during their senior festivities. Mohsen-Breen ranks fourth all-time in career wins in the women’s tennis programs, as well as second all-time in both singles and doubles winning percentage, only behind four-time DIII national champion Eudice Chong ’18.
The Cards once again dominated from the jump, handedly winning all three doubles matches. In singles, the Red and Black were in control all day, rapidly defeating the Bantams. Through the entire match, Trinity could only muster up seven games won, in comparison to the 72 won by the Cards. This included three 6–0, 6–0 singles wins from Soloveychik, Youngberg, and Leroy.
Looking ahead, the Cardinals are currently ranked No. 4 in all of DIII and are tied for first in the NESCAC with No. 6 Middlebury. That tie atop the standings will be broken on Saturday, April 26, as the Cards will fly up to Vermont to face the Panthers in what will likely decide the No. 1 seed for the NESCAC playoffs. Their last match of the regular season is the next day against No. 19 nationally ranked Williams.
The next weekend, all NESCAC teams qualified for the postseason will come to Middletown for the NESCAC playoffs, where the Cards will hope to defend home court and capture their sixth straight league title.
While all of these challenges lie ahead for the Red and Black, the team is trying their best to stay in the moment and take it one match at a time.
“Numbers and rankings, these things go up and down all the time,” Soloveychik said. “It’s just a number. That doesn’t reflect a team’s spirit or work ethic. Right now, we just want to focus on ourselves and the things we can do every day, taking it match by match and trying to enjoy it as much as we can.”
Max Forstein can be reached at mforstein@wesleyan.edu.
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