Box Score CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Wesleyan women's tennis team was back in action this weekend for the first time since a runner-up finish at the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The Cardinals started off the 2021-22 season at the MIT Invitational in a tournament alongside Amherst, MIT and Tufts.
Caitlyn Ferrante '23 was the top performer of the weekend, as she claimed her second consecutive MIT Invitational singles title, after winning the same event in her rookie season back in 2019-20. A pair of Wesleyan doubles teams –
Serim Jin '23 and
Sasha Gaeth '23;
Renna Mohsen-Breen '25 and
Katie Fleischman '23 – also made runs into the semifinal round.
DAY ONE HIGHLIGHTS:
- Gaeth started the day with an 8-5 win in preliminary singles round action and then paired with Jin in doubles action as the duo combined for wins over Anna Lowy/Kennedy May of Tufts (8-4) and Sarah Pertsemlidis/Kimberly Liao of MIT (8-6) to make it to the quarterfinal round
- Competing in her first career event, Mohsen-Breen dominated Anna Murphy of MIT 6-1, 6-1 in singles action as the made the round of 16. Four others including Ferrante, Fleischman, Alexis Almy '22 and Venia Yeung '22 earned straight set victories in singles to make it to the round of 16 as well
- Wesleyan took care of business in several doubles matches as Kristina Yu '22/Sophie Henderson '22 defeated an Amherst opponent in the round of 16 before bowing out in the quarterfinal round to a team from Tufts. Ferrante/Yeung defeated Calista Sha/Emily Sivarak of Amherst 8-0 while Mohsen-Breen/Fleischman toppled Friedman/Lendel of Amherst 8-5 to also make it to the quarterfinals on Saturday
- Also in doubles play, Almy and Kriti Williams '24 won their first match as a team, 8-4 over Seraphin Castelino/Sara Fernandez of MIT before bowing out in the round of 16 with a loss to Amherst's top team of Jackie Bukzin/Mia Kintiroglou
DAY TWO HIGHLIGHTS:
- Wesleyan started the day very strong, earning three singles victories while winning both quarterfinal doubles matches. The lone defeat was Almy who lost to Fleischman in an all-Wesleyan round of 16 match in the singles flight.
- Ferrante took down Anna Lowy of Tufts 6-3, 6-3 while Yeung defeated Anya Ramras of Amherst in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 and Fleischman defeated her Cardinal teammate Almy 6-4, 7-6 as all three advanced to the quarterfinal stage
- In doubles, Jin/Gaeth defeated Ferrante/Yeung 8-6 in a thrilling all-Wesleyan quarterfinal match while Mohsen-Breen/Fleischman scored a big win over Tufts' Tilly Rigby/Maddie Suk 8-6. In semifinal action later on Saturday, Jin/Gaeth battled but ultimately bowed out in a loss to Elle Christensen/Casey Cummings of Tufts 8-6 while Mohsen-Breen/Fleischman fell to the ultimate doubles tournament champion Bukzin/Kintiroglou of Amherst
DAY THREE HIGHLIGHTS:
- Ferrante was the lone Cardinal in action heading into the final day of the tournament and the junior started start with a win over Rigby of Tufts, 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the final against another Jumbo opponent in Christensen
- The singles final was an epic dual between two stellar opponents as Ferrante dropped the opening set 4-6, her first set lost of the entire tournament, before bouncing back in a big way with a 6-0 second set sweep, sending the match into a third set tiebreak. The deciding third set was back-and-forth throughout and went into extra points but Ferrante came away with the 12-10, match-sealing victory
UP NEXT:
After a weekend off from competition, the Cardinals will travel to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine for the ITA Regional Championships from Oct. 1-3.
