Box Score CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – An incredible 2021 campaign for the Wesleyan women's tennis team officially came to an end on Friday as
Venia Yeung '22 and
Katie Fleischman '23 were knocked out of both the singles and doubles bracket of the 2021 NCAA Division III Individual Tournaments.
Seeded No. 4 and the defending NCAA singles runner-up from the 2019 Championships, Yeung was looking to make a run this year and got off to a great start with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Millsaps' Grace Gaskins in the opening round of the singles tournament. Later in the afternoon, however, Yeung was defeated by Kathy Joseph of UT Dallas 6-2, 6-2 in the round of 16. Yeung finishes the 2021 season with a 4-5 record in singles play, with three of her four victories coming against opponents who qualified for the 2021 NCAA Singles Tournament.
In her first career appearance in the NCAA Individual Championships, Fleischman dominated in the opening round as she toppled Arista Siebrits of Macalester 6-3, 6-1, advancing to the round of 16 where the top-seeded Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico of Emory awaited. Competing against the nation's top-ranked singles player, Flesichman managed to take a set, winning the second set 6-2 after losing the first 6-3. Heading into the decisive third set, Fleischman gave Gonzalez-Rico everything she could handle before ultimately taking a 6-4 loss. For the season, Fleischman went 8-2 in singles matches, tying for the team-lead with her eight wins.
In the doubles bracket, Yeung and Fleischman were lined up against the top-seed Gonzalez-Rico and Katie Chang from Emory. These two sides had just faced one another two days ago in the NCAA title match, with Emory's duo winning handily 8-1. In this go-round, Yeung and Fleischman gave the nation's top-ranked doubles pairing a stiff test as the first set went Emory's way 6-4 but the Cardinals battled back with a second set 7-6 (7-5) win in a tiebreak. Looking for a major upset, Yeung and Fleischman sent the decisive third set into another tiebreak but came just a few points short as the Eagles' duo won 7-6 (7-3) to advance. Wesleyan's top doubles team finishes the 2021 season with a 6-5 record, with all five losses coming against pairings that qualified for the 2021 NCAA Doubles Tournament.
