AMHERST, Mass. – In a highly-anticipated showdown between Little 3 rivals and Top 10 nationally-ranked squads, the No. 5 Wesleyan women's tennis team secured a 5-4 victory over No. 9 Amherst on Sunday. After recording just one win over the Mammoths in their first 37 all-time meetings, Wesleyan (8-0, 3-0 NESCAC) has now won five straight matches over Amherst (3-4, 1-1 NESCAC).
 
Wesleyan secured a crucial 2-1 advantage after doubles play with Caitlyn Ferrante '23 combining with Sasha Gaeth '23 for a strong showing at #1, defeating Jackie Bukzin and Mia Kintiroglou 8-3. Nika Vesely '25 and Sophie Henderson '22 then finished off an 8-5 win at #2 over Deliala Friedman and Julia Lendel. The Mammoths secured one point to close out doubles play as Anya Ramras teamed with Amy Cui for an 8-3 win at #3 over Katie Fleischman '23 and Venia Yeung '22.
 
Armed with the lead in the team points, Fleischman shook off the doubles loss and rolled in her singles match as she defeated Lendel 6-2, 6-2 at #3. Amherst then took the next two singles matches that finished as Buzkin defeated Ferrante 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) at #1 before Calista Sha took down Serim Jin '23 6-4, 6-1 at #5 to tie the score at 3-3.
 
Looking to ward off the Amherst run, Kristina Yu '22 picked up a much-needed win at #6 as she dominated Ramras 6-2, 6-3 to move Wesleyan to just one point away from clinching the match. The Cardinals didn't have to wait long as Yeung won the decider, defeating Friedman in a strong showing 6-3, 6-2 at #4 as her win secured Wesleyan the match victory.
 
In what was easily the closest singles match, Cui toppled Vesely at #2 in a great match, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 to salvage a consolation point for Amherst and close out the 5-4 Cardinal victory.
 
Next up for the Cardinals is a huge home NESCAC weekend as Wesleyan welcomes No. 8 Middlebury on Saturday and No. 18 Williams on Sunday. Both matches are set to start at 2 PM from the John Wood Memorial Tennis Courts.