Women’s Tennis Defeats Suffolk 8-1 to Start Season on Saturday
Vincent Auyeung—The Tech
The MIT Women’s Tennis Team won their first match of the season this past Saturday over Suffolk University.
The match started with the doubles teams playing in the Johnson Athletic Center due to the rain. The doubles matches went by quickly with all MIT teams sweeping their opponents. First, Karina N. Pikhart ’09 and Jennifer A. Rees ’11 won their match 8-3 after putting some pressure on their opponents to break away following an early score of 3-2. Melissa A. Diskin ’11 and Anastasia Vishnevetsky ’12 finished soon afterwards with a decisive win of 8-3. During one point, Diskin hit a winner from one of her signature sliding splits. Soon after the end of the number one team’s match, Kerry R. Weinberg ’10 and Hillary E. Jenny ’12 won their match 8-5. Weinberg and Jenny closed out their match after relaxing somewhat upon reaching a score of 4-3. Thanks to the doubles teams’ victories, along with the support of the many fans, MIT started with a huge lead of three matches over Suffolk.
Singles matches began after the completion of the doubles competition. Midway through the first half of the singles matches, play moved outside thanks to a break in the rain and the amazing help of the dedicated venue staff in drying the courts. Once outside, Leslie A. Hansen ’10 quickly finished up her sets, demolishing her opponent 6-1, 6-1. Kimberlee Boonbanjerdsri ’12 was up next, finishing off her exhibition match 8-4. During Boonbanjerdsri’s match, a few of her teammates conducted a miniature lesson on the sidelines, teaching a few enthusiastic fans how to cheer properly. The team is always happy to teach MIT fans.
Back on the courts, Katherine M. Smyth ’10 was finishing up her match. In the first set, Smyth hit a winner down the line, passing her opponent to take the lead at 3-2. Smyth then dominated the second set and won her match 6-2, 6-0, giving MIT the lead with 5-0 over Suffolk. Anisa K. McCree ’10 was the next player off the court, winning her match decisively 6-0, 6-1. The next three matches were much closer. Finally, after a long period of play, Alexandria C. Hall ’12 lost a hard fought battle 6-7(1), 2-6. Throughout her match, Hall showed her level-headedness, keeping her cool through many difficult situations. Soon to follow Hall off the court was Jenny C. Dohlman ’11. Dohlman stayed tough through her match and fought back from a rough first set to win the match in three sets, with a score of 1-6, 7-5, 12-10. This put MIT up 7-1, leaving Yi Wang ’09 front and center. Wang’s match was tense and close but she finally pulled out a victory, reaching a final score of 7-6(4), 6-4. This left MIT with its first win of the season with a final score of 8-1 over Suffolk.