For Immediate Release
October 28, 2007
Contact: Lauren Ferrett
Wellesley Wins Fourth-Straight NEWMAC Tennis Championship
Wellesley, MA – The Wellesley College tennis team downed MIT to win the 2007 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women’s Tennis Championship. The Blue capped their fourth-straight NEWMAC title with the 5-2 victory on Sunday afternoon in Wellesley.
Wellesley got on the board with an 8-0 win at number two doubles from the pair of Trish Devine (Westport, MA) and Hali Walther (Navarre, FL). MIT tied it up with an 8-3 win at number one doubles from the team of Leslie Hanson (Fairfax, VA) and Mariah Hoover (Orlando, FL) but the Blue increased the lead to 2-1 after an 8-4 win at number three from Meghan Stubblebine (Bridgeville, PA) and Shivani Saxena (Milan, Italy).
In singles, Wellesley took a 3-1 lead after Jenny Kendall (Auburn, ME) picked up an easy 6-3, 6-0 win in the number six spot. The Engineers battled back to close the lead to 3-2 with a 6-3, 6-2 win at number one singles from Hanson but Wellesley earned a point from Devine (6-2, 6-4) at two singles to pull to within one point of the title.
With matches going on in the number three, four and five flights, Wellesley’s Saxena earned the clinching point with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 win at number three. When play ended Wellesley’s Jacqueline Shen (Calgary, Alberta, CA) was ahead at number four singles, 6-1, 4-6, 2-1 while Stubblebine was playing a tight match at number five.
MIT finishes the fall portion of their season at 8-3 and will return to action on March 1st against Bates College in Lewistown, ME.
With the win, Wellesley seniors Devine, Walther and Kendall completed a four-year sweep of the tournament title. The victory improves the Blue’s fall record to 10-1 as Wellesley also returns to the courts in March.
2007 NEWMAC Championship
Wellesley College – 10/28/07
#1 Wellesley def. #2 MIT, 5-2
Doubles
Singles
Singles order of finish: #6, #1, #3, #4