Wellesley College tennis has met the Vassar College Brewers in the final match of the Seven Sisters Championship for the last six seasons. The Blue, who won the tournament by a slim 3-2 margin in the 2014 season, returned the title to Vassar after this year’s hard-fought 4-1 loss.
“As a team, we went into the weekend with the goal of winning Seven Sisters. But results don’t mean everything to us. We also made it a goal to have fun playing against all the Sister tennis teams, and giving our all at each match,” Captain Sojung Lee ’15 said. “It’s really important to us that we feel like we did everything we could, win or lose.”
Unlike typical collegiate tennis matches, which consist of three doubles matches followed by six singles matches, the Seven Sisters Championship uses a format of two doubles matches and three singles matches that are played simultaneously.
After sweeping Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke and Smith 5-0 in the first three matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Blue moved on to face rival Vassar in Sunday afternoon’s final match.
“Seven Sisters is an exciting tournament because our team gets to integrate with other colleges that share in our sisterhood. For many years now, starting long before my time here at Wellesley, Vassar and Wellesley College have faced off in the finals. Every year, this results in a nail-biting final match,” Samantha Stone ’17 said.
At the no. 1 singles position, Lee won the first set 6-2 and dropped the second 4-6 to go into a tiebreaker third set, where opponent Kate Christensen ’18 topped Lee 6-3. Carina Chen ’17 fought a tough match at no. 2, losing the point to Vassar in two sets. No. 3 singles player Emily Olson ’18 captured the Blue’s only point, finishing off her second set 6-0 to go undefeated in the tournament.
“I did not know exactly what to expect, so my goal going into the weekend was to do my part on the team and give my best effort,” Olson said. “One of the hardest parts of individual sports in team situation is that you only have control over how you play and your match, so my goal for singles was to play the best I could.”
In doubles play, Stone and Dasha Kostikina ’17 teamed up for a competitive no. 1 doubles match. The pair lost the first set 7-5 before coming back to win the second set 6-3 and tie the match. In the deciding third set, the Blue came up short, losing 6-2. The Brewers marched on to also take the second doubles match, defeating Wellesley’s Caroline Dickensheets ’17 and Caroline Hsu ’18 in two sets.
With two three-set matches, the rivalry between Wellesley and Vassar lived up to its reputation in this year’s Seven Sisters Championship.
“They are a very competitive team, and so are we. Both teams bring absolutely everything they have, so it makes for a really exciting match for the championship title,” Lee said.
Blue tennis will conclude its season this weekend, hosting Tufts University at 4 p.m. on Friday and Stonehill College at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Photo courtesy of Wellesley College Tennis
Anna Cahill ’18 is the Sports & Wellness Editor who is pursuing a major in Physics. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, watching Seinfeld and playing basketball. She can be reached at acahill2@wellelsey.edu.