Womens Tennis

Women's Tennis Sweeps Past Holy Cross and Smith, 9-0, for Five Straight Wins but Season Ends on Tough 5-4 Loss to Conn

Playing Holy Cross on the tennis courts for the first time in 36 years, the Cardinals captured their fourth straight victory this season and improved their record to 10-5 with a 9-0 decision Wed., April 20.  Having already clinched its sixth consecutive winning campaign with its 7-2 win over Hamilton April 17, the squad also has its sixth double-digit win campaign in a row.  When the squad visited Smith College Sat., April 23, the Cardinals beat the Pioneers for the fifth time in a row, 9-0, to up the record to 11-5.  Conn. College was the team's final opponent Tues., April 26 in Middletown, and the Camels eked out a 5-4 victory.

Against Holy Cross, team captain Linda McDougal '11 (main photo) posted the most decisive singles victory with a 6-0, 6-1 win at #5.  Each Cardinal won her singles match in straight sets as Grace Smith '14 won 6-1, 6-1 at #3 and Kiley Robbins '14 was a 6-2, 6-0 victor at #5.  Genevieve Aniello '13 came through with a 6-1, 7-6 win at #1 while Sarah Miller '12 took a 6-3, 6-3 match at #2.  Nicki Softness '14 finished off the sweep with a 6-2, 6-4 win at #6.

In double play, Hannah Berkman '12 (photo insert lower left, courtesy of Michael Berkman P'12) joined Kaitlyn Clark '14 for an 8-4 triumph at #3.  Making it a two-win afternoon with doubles wins to complement their singles victories were Aniello and Smith (8-0 at #1) along with McDougal and Softness (8-2 at #2).

Wesleyan also got six singles wins without dropping a set at Smith College but gave Aniello and Miller a chance to rest.  Thus, the lineup featured (in order) Smith, Robbins, McDougal, Softness, Clark and Berkman.  Aniello and Miller were involved in doubles play as #1 was Aniello and Smith while Miller played #2 with Robbins.  McDougal and Softness was the victorious pair at #3.

After falling behind Conn., 2-1, after doubles play, the Cardinals got dominating triumphs from Smith, 6-1, 6-1, and Softness, 6-0, 6-1, as the matches evened up, 3-3.  With her victory, Smith posted a team-best 13-3 singles record.  Right behind with a 12-4 mark was Softness.  Miller picked up Wesleyan's fourth win vs. Conn with an exciting three-set affair, taking the third set, 6-3.  With the overall match tied, 4-4, as darkness was setting in, the final bout with McDougal involved went to a third set after each competitors each won a tie-breaker.  The final set went to Conn, 6-4, to give the visitors the match.

Wesleyan ended its sixth consecutive winning campaign with an 11-6 record.