Women’s tennis falls 2-7 to Bates in close matches
This past Saturday, women’s tennis played against Bates in the second match of the season, falling 7-2. They had a smoky, fiery welcome, when a small fire started in the facility that caused a delay in the match. Luckily, it was put out and play was allowed to continue.
The match started off with the doubles matches. Playing first doubles was Leslie A. Hansen ’10 and Anastasia Vishnevetsky ’12. The match was tough with both teams being aggressive at the net, but in the end, Bates won 8-6.
Playing number two doubles for MIT tennis was Melissa A. Diskin ’11 and Bianca M. Dumitrascu ’13. The team hit some great passing shots, and competed hard, but lost with a score of 8-6. The number three team was Jenny C. Dohlman ’11 and Jennifer A. Rees ’11. They attacked the net throughout the match, but lost with a score of 8-5.
This left MIT down 3-0 going into the singles matches. In exhibition, Kerry R. Weinburg ’10 and Alexandria C. Hall ’12 played doubles, also losing a close match
Playing in the number one singles slot was Hansen. In the first set, she was down 2-3, but she came back. She ran down a short ball and lobbed it to win the game, making it 4-3. She ended up winning her match 6-3, 6-3, giving MIT its first win of the day. At number two singles, Vishnevetsky started the second set strong. She hit a cross-court return to break her opponent, but in the end, she lost 6-3, 6-4. The number three singles was Dumitrascu. She powered her way through the match, hitting big serves and hard ground strokes to win in straight sets, 6-0, 7-5. Number four for MIT was Diskin. She attacked the net and hit an angled volley to win the point. She had a few Kim Clijster-like acrobatic shots, but in the end she lost 6-2, 6-0. Hillary E. Jenny ’12 played five singles for MIT. She played a tough match but lost 6-2, 6-0. Number six in singles was Dohlman. She had long rallies with her opponent, running down short balls and hitting cross-court passing shots, but she too lost with a score of 6-1, 6-1. In exhibition Sheena Bhalla ’11 and Caitlin R. Pomeroy ’13 played singles. Bhalla played a tough match but lost. Pomeroy had a backhand winning passing shot off of an overhead, and won her first set in a tiebreaker, but did not get to finish her match. In the end, MIT lost to Bates with a score of 7-2, though, according to assistant coach Dan Griffin, the score did not show how close the matches truly were.