Women’s tennis beats Tufts for the first time since 1996
Quisenberry, Hsu lead Engineers to an 8-1 victory
In its first non-conference dual match of the season, the MIT women’s tennis team hosted local rival Tufts University and came away with an 8-1 victory. The win broke a 16-match losing streak to the Jumbos and was the first victory by the Engineers since the 1996-97 season.
MIT (8-0) took a 2-0 lead in doubles with a pair of 8-3 wins. Those victories came from the No. 1 team of Lauren C. Quisenberry ’14 and Julia C. Hsu ’14 and the No. 3 duo of Michelle M. Dutt ’15 and Krystal Y. Lai ’17. The Engineers then went up 3-0 when Tufts (1-1) was forced to retire due to an injury in the No. 2 match.
Hsu scored the first point in singles play with a 6-1, 6-0 win in the No. 6 singles match to draw MIT within a point of putting the match in the win column. Conner Calabro put Tufts on the board in the No. 3 match, coming up with a 6-1, 6-1 decision over Lai. That was as close as the Jumbos would get, however, as Victoria Tam ’16 put the match in the win column for the Engineers with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Alexa Meltzer at No. 2.
After seeing the first three singles matches decided in straight sets, the final three all went MIT’s way in three sets, with the Engineers coming back in each after dropping the first set. At No. 6 Wendi J. Kong ’17 scored a comeback 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory against Jacqueline Baum. In the No. 1 match Elysa M. Kohrs ’17 fought back to score a 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (2) decision against Samantha Gann. The last match to be decided was the No. 5 contest where Chelsea Hayashi took a close first set only to see Vynnie J. Kong ’15 come back to score a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 10-6 win.
MIT returns to New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference play on Saturday, Oct. 12 when it hosts Smith College at 1:00 p.m.