As someone who occupies the KSC at weird hours (read: 5 a.m.), I was surprised to find some new friends in the space a few weeks ago when the crew season began. The Tennis team started early morning practices this season, and it looks like it is beginning to pay off. After an initially rocky start to the season, the Blue now has a record of 2-3 wins to losses as they enter NEWMAC conference games.
Tennis is both a very individual and team-based sport, with the outcome of each individual match adding points to the winning team’s composite score. The doubles partners are seeded from 1-3 and each play against the other team’s equally seeded partners. The singles players are similarly seeded from 1-6 and play their equally seeded counterpart. Overall each match won counts for one point towards the team’s composite score, and whichever team wins the majority of the nine matches wins the competition.
Win or lose, each competition is a composite of nine matches fought point to point. At their home season opener on Feb. 23, the Blue lost to The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) 6-3 with three matches won in the singles category.
The Blue then went on to lose 6-3 against Skidmore at their first away game. With one win in the doubles category, the Blue entered singles down 2-1. Selina Peng ’20 and Cinji Li ’22 were the only two Wellesley players to win their singles matches.
Wellesley got the first win of the season on March 1 against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. While the number one doubles team Selina Peng ’20 and Libby Chang ’22 were defeated in doubles, number three doubles team Michaela Markwart ’22 and Michelle Shen ’22 and number three Lily Chu ’21 and Cinji Lee’ 22 both won their matches. Wellesley entered singles play up 2-1, and won four out of the six matches. Number three singles Michelle Shen ’22 and number five Dana Feng ’23 both won their matches in two sets.
In the Blue’s campaign against Bates on March 7, they narrowly lost to the Bobcats with a 5-4 overall score. Ending doubles play down 2-1 to the Bobcats, Wellesley pushed back in singles to cut the deficit to 5-3 after number five singles player Dana Feng ’23 won her match. The ultimate match was won by Cinji Lee ’22 who won in a tiebreaker in the last set.
Most recently, the Blue won against Brandeis on Sunday, March 8. The singles players helped to take home the win this past Sunday against Brandeis with five out of six matches won. With the Judges leading 2-1 points after doubles rounds, the last six points were up for grabs in singles. With those five points won in the singles round, Wellesley ended up with a 6-3 win against the Judges.
The Blue, who ended the 2018-19 season with a 13-9 winning record, are back and better than ever as they head into conference play. You can next find them playing at home, hosting the Wheaton Lyons on Tuesday March 17 at 4 p.m. in the Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse.