Women’s Tennis Team Sweeps Bates College
Women’s Tennis Team Sweeps Bates College
The women’s tennis team swept Bates College 9-0 in their first match of the spring season last Saturday, bringing their overall record to 9-3. The team came into the match ranked 23rd in the nation.
The doubles teams started off the competition by winning all three of their matches, giving MIT the early lead. Leslie A. Hansen ’10 and Mariah N. Hoover ’08 won 8-2 in the top doubles match against Alexandra Piacquad and Caryn Benisch of Bates. Anisa K. McCree ’10 and Yi Wang ’09 won in a close match 8-6 at two doubles, and Karina N. Pikhart ’09 and Melissa A. Diskin ’11 finished their match with a decisive 8-3 win.
The singles matches were more competitive; Four of the six singles matches went the distance to three sets, but all featured comebacks by MIT.
Hoover won a tough, four-hour match with a 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 6-2 victory over Piacquad. After falling behind 2-5 early in the first set, she made an amazing come back to win the set in a tie breaker.
Wang also won in a grueling match at three singles, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. McCree pulled out an amazing come-from-behind victory with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win, and Pikhart rounded out the three set spree with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory.
While their teammates were in these long matches, Hansen (one singles) and Diskin (four singles) cruised through their matches in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1 and 6-3, 6-1 respectively.
In addition to the official nine matches, the teams played in exhibition matches. Jenny C. Dohlman ’11 and Kerry R. Weinberg ’10 lost a hard fought match doubles match 5-8, but Dohlman redeemed herself with an 8-4 victory in singles. Jennifer A. Rees ’11 won her singles match 8-2.