MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – In a final tune-up prior to Saturday's 2021 National Championship rematch with Emory, the No. 5 nationally ranked Wesleyan women's tennis team put together a strong showing, defeating Brandeis 8-1 on Friday afternoon from the John Wood Memorial Tennis Courts. Wesleyan (13-0) is the lone remaining unbeaten team in the country while the Judges (4-11) now head into their conference tournament next weekend.
Wesleyan opened the match with three convincing doubles victories including an 8-1 triumph for
Kristina Yu '22 and
Renna Mohsen-Breen '25 at #3 over Nikita Salkar and Cecilia Denis.
Katie Fleischman '23 and
Venia Yeung '22 earned a 8-3 win at #2, defeating Jiayi Zhang and Ana Hatfield. Wesleyan's #1 team of
Caitlyn Ferrante '23 and
Sasha Gaeth '23 were challenged by Bhakti Parwani and Sabrina Loui before closing strong on an 8-5 win.
Caitlyn Ferrante '23 (left) and Sasha Gaeth '23 (right) shaking hands after an 8-5 doubles victory
Singles play saw Wesleyan earn a pair of near-clean sweeps, starting with Fleischman who took down Salkar at #2 with a 6-2, 6-1 win. Yu then earned the clinching point at #4 for the match victory, defeating Hatfield 6-4, 6-3 in what was back-and-forth for large portions of the match. Yu remains perfect, sitting at 9-0 in dual match singles play this season.
Kristina Yu '22 serving
Serim Jin '23 her great run of singles play with a near-sweep of Loui at #3, posting a 6-2, 6-0 win which moves her to 9-1 in singles dual matches this season. Mohsen-Breen then polished off a 6-4, 6-0 win over Anastasia Sia at #5 as the first-year Cardinal is now 13-1 (7-0 in dual matches) in singles play this season.
Serim Jin '23 celebrates following a point on an overhead volley at the net
Ferrante was locked in a thriller at #1 as she won the opening set 7-5 but Parawni battled back to a 6-0 second set win before taking the match and the lone Brandeis point with a 10-4 tiebreak victory.
Kriti Williams '24 then finished off the Wesleyan victory with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Zhang at #6.
Kriti Williams '24 celebrating a forehand winner in the first set
Saturday figures to be a sensational match as the Cardinals and Eagles are set to do battle for the fifth time in the all-time series. Both sides have won twice against the other but Emory most-recently won the 2021 national title with a 5-0 triumph over Wesleyan in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
