ORLANDO, Fla. – The third-ranked Wesleyan women's tennis team battled with No. 8 Emory for over four hours before Renna Mohsen-Breen '25 played through injury and completed a massive comeback to seal a 5-3 win over the Eagles on Monday afternoon from the USTA National Campus. Wesleyan (23-0), the lone remaining undefeated team in the nation, advances to the national semifinal (Final Four) for the third straight season and will take on No. 4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 3 PM on Tuesday with a trip to the national title match on the line.
 
In a battle of two national powers, Wesleyan seized a massive 3-0 lead in doubles, winning by at least a four-game margin on all three courts. Sophie Henderson '22 and Nika Vesely '25 rolled past Emma Cartledge and Alexa Goetz 8-3 at #2 while Caitlyn Ferrante '23 and Sasha Gaeth '23 defeated Ana Cristina Perez and Christina Watson 8-4 at #1. Looking for the sweep, Kristina Yu '22 and Mohsen-Breen combined for an 8-3 win at #3, securing all three points for the Cardinals.
 
This marked the second time this season that Wesleyan swept all three doubles points from Emory, as the Cardinals got off to a 3-0 start in a regular season meeting in Middletown on April 16. Wesleyan went on to win that match 6-3.
 
Needing just two singles victories, Wesleyan was thrown a heavy counterpunch from Emory as the Eagles won the opening sets on four of the six singles courts by decisive margins. With the pressure ramped up, Venia Yeung '22 put a halt in the Emory run as she landed a 7-4 victory in a first set tiebreak, giving Wesleyan a one-set lead on two courts.
 
Katie Fleischman '23 was first to finish as she dominated Eliza McPherron 6-1, 6-1 at #2, scoring another point for Wesleyan as the Cardinals held a 4-0 lead.
 
The defending national champion Emory started their comeback as Stephanie Shulman defeated Serim Jin '23 6-2, 6-2 at #4 before Emma Cartledge finished off a 6-2, 6-1 win over Ferrante at #1.
 
Yet another dominating singles victory came moments later as Ana Cristina Perez closed out Yu ,who gave her a great battle in the second set, before Perez finished off a 6-0, 6-3 win at #5.
 
With Wesleyan leading 4-3 and just two singles matches left, Watson closed out a 6-4 second set win over Yeung, sending the #3 match into a third set. Meanwhile on court 6, Mohsen-Breen started an epic rally after dropping the first set 6-1 and trailing 3-0 in the second set, the first-year won six of the next seven games to land a 6-4 second set win.
 
Leading 2-1 in the third set, a key moment in the match saw Mohsen-Breen fall to the ground with an apparent ankle injury. Needing medical attention, the match came to a halt for over 10 minutes but Mohsen-Breen ultimately returned to the court with a heavy ankle brace.
 
Mohsen-Breen wasted no time in getting back into the action as she finished off a break of serve and followed with a hold as she led 4-1 in the third. After a chance of ends, Mohsen-Breen saw Alexa Goetz battle back to trail 5-4. On Goetz's serve, Mohsen-Breen dug in and ultimately won the match with a break of serve as she tumbled to the ground, met quickly by her teammates celebrating, following the winning point.
 
On court 3, Yeung and Watson were locked up in a great dual as an early break in the third set went Yeung's way before the match was halted with Yeung leading 4-2 in the decisive set.
 
Wesleyan advances to the Final Four for the third time in program history, all of which have come in the last three consecutive seasons (2019, 21, 22). In 2019, Wesleyan defeated Emory in the semifinal round before toppling CMS 5-4 in what was the Cardinals' first-ever national championship. In the COVID-shortened 2021 season, Wesleyan defeated Kenyon 5-1 in the semifinals before falling to Emory in the national title match.