Lady Engineers Finish Spring Season in New York With Close Losses
The women’s tennis team hit a rough patch last week to close out their season, barely losing to both Skidmore College and Vassar College. MIT played Skidmore first on Saturday. First up were the double matches, where even a twisted ankle wouldn’t slow down Karina N. Pikhart ’09 and her partner Melissa A. Diskin ’11. After hitting a winner, Pikhart scared her teammates as she stumbled and twisted her ankle. After taking a bit to recover, she got up and continued playing. The duo went on to win the match 8-6, making it clear that one can never underestimate these Lady Engineers, even when injured.
The two doubles team of Anisa K. McCree ’10 and Yi Wang ’09 lost 8-2, fighting hard the entire match. Meanwhile, the number one doubles team of Mariah N. Hoover ’08 and Leslie A. Hansen ’10 defeated their opponents with a decisive win 8-2. With this victory, MIT was in the lead 2-1 when it was time for the singles to start. The singles matches then flew by in a blur. Hansen and Hoover won their matches 6-2, 6-4, and 6-2, 6-3 respectively, giving MIT a 4-1 lead. McCree lost a hard fought match 6-3, 6-1. Diskin, running down everything she possible could, lost with a hard fought score of 6-2, 6-3.
Jennifer A. Rees ’11, a substitute for the injured Pikhart, lost her match 6-1, 6-0, leaving the score tied 4-4 with just Wang’s match remaining. Wang lost the first set 6-0 and was down 2-4 in the second before making a tremendous comeback to get to a tie breaker. Wang ended up losing the tie breaker 7-3, but she later said that it was one of her best singles matches of her life. While the team lost the match 5-4 overall, it was not discouraged by such a close loss. With high spirits, the women were ready to play Vassar the next day.
On April 20, the team began again with the double matches against Vassar. Hansen and Hoover dominated their match 8-3. McCree and Wang followed with a loss, 8-3. After the trainer approved her to play, Pikhart and her partner Diskin lost 8-5, despite scrambling for every ball.
In the singles position, Jennifer Dohlman ’11 lost a tough match 6-0, 6-0 at the number six position. Hansen and Hoover won their matches again, 6-4, 6-1, and 6-1, 6-2 respectively. McCree then lost a tough match 6-4, 6-2, giving Vassar the overall lead in the match 4-3. Wang was the next one off, losing a close match 6-4, 6-1, leaving Diskin front and center in the finale. As everyone else had already finished their matches, Diskin was just finishing up the first set, losing 7-5 in a tie breaker. The second set continued on this note, as she never gave up, running down every ball. She barley lost the second set 7-5.
In exhibition, Kerry R. Weinberg ’10 and Rees lost their hard fought match 8-4. In the singles matches, Rees was defeated 8-1, while Weinberg and Katherine M. Smyth ’10 both lost tough matches 8-2 and 8-1, respectively.