ORLANDO, Fla. – The undefeated and No. 3 nationally ranked Wesleyan women's tennis team heads to the USTA National Campus in Orlando for NCAA Tournament play this upcoming week. The Cardinals (22-0) are set to meet No. 8 Emory in the NCAA Quarterfinal round on Monday at 3 PM in what is a rematch of the 2021 NCAA National Championship match which was won by Emory 5-0. The two sides met earlier this season in Middletown with Wesleyan coming out on top in a 6-3 win.
The Cardinals are no stranger to this stage of the NCAA Tournament, as the Cardinals are making their fourth consecutive Quarterfinal round appearance. Wesleyan has advanced to the national title match the last two NCAA Tournaments in 2019 and 2021 (2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), becoming the first women's team sport to win a national championship in 2019.
Two key pieces of the Cardinal lineup that helped lead the team to the 2019 national title are still fixtures in this year's squad as Wesleyan will lean on the senior leadership from
Kristina Yu '22 and
Venia Yeung '22. Both Yu and Yeung won matches in the 2019 national title match, a 5-4 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, with Yeung winning in both doubles and singles while Yu triumphed in doubles with her sister
Victoria Yu '19. For their careers, Yeung is 33-14 all-time in singles and 43-15 in doubles while Yu is 35-12 in singles play and 48-16 in doubles action.
Wesleyan is in the midst of another incredible campaign as the team is 53-3 since the start of the 2019 season while the 22 wins this season are already a single-season record. Wesleyan won a pair of epic matches at the NESCAC Tournament semifinal and title match rounds to win their third straight conference championship. The Cardinals defeated No. 9 Amherst 5-4 before coming back from 3-1 down to defeat No. 5 Middlebury 5-4 in the championship. Yeung sealed the clinching point for Wesleyan in both the victories.
This season, Wesleyan has established an incredible dual match season, winning 22 straight matches including 10 over Top 25 ranked opponents. The Cardinals enter the Quarterfinal round having lost two doubles matches just twice out of 22 matches. Wesleyan has also won at least three singles matches in every dual match in 2022.
Caitlyn Ferrante '23 is the #1 for Wesleyan in singles and doubles, as she is playing some of her best tennis heading to Orlando, having defeated Middlebury's Brinlea La Barge 6-2, 6-2 in the NESCAC Championship while she just won the clinching point for Wesleyan in a 5-2 NCAA 3
rd Round win over No. 15 Mary Washington last weekend. Ferrante and doubles partner
Sasha Gaeth '23 have been one of the top duos in the country all spring, sporting a 17-1 record as a tandem.
Katie Fleischman '23 is 13-4 in dual match singles play this spring as she is 7-1 at #2 in the lineup. For the season, Fleischman is 18-6 in singles matches, just one win behind Ferrante and
Renna Mohsen-Breen '25 for the team-lead.
Mohsen-Breen's play in singles and doubles has been a key cog in the success of Wesleyan's 2021-22 season, as she sports an unblemished 13-0 record in dual matches (19-1 overall) while she is 9-1 in doubles during the dual season playing with Yu as the Cardinals' #3 team. Mohsen-Breen is 5-0 at both #5 and #6 in the singles lineup and has won 18 straight matches since the fall.
Serim Jin '23 has been used all throughout the Cardinal lineup this spring, being utilized in the #2 through #5 positions. Jin is 13-3 in dual matches and also scored a big win in the NESCAC title match against Middlebury, defeating Amy Delman at #4 in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
Yu has been a steady force in singles and doubles this season, earning All-America honors in the fall competing with Gaeth and rolling in the spring with a 9-1 record with doubles partner Mohsen-Breen. For the season, Yu is 19-6 in doubles play and 15-4 in singles (15-2 in duals).
Nike Vesely '25 is another mainstay, as her and doubles partner
Sophie Henderson '22 are a combined 17-3 this season at #2. Vesely is also 7-1 in singles play this season, being used solely in the #2 spot in the lineup.
Awaiting Wesleyan in the Quarterfinal round is a showdown with Emory. The Eagles rolled in Regional play last weekend, defeating Piedmont and Sewanee in 5-0 sweeps and are a storied program, having won eight National Championships including 2021 as they look to defend their national title this week.
