MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The Wesleyan University women's tennis team has earned the top seed in this weekend's NESCAC Tournament to be played Friday through Sunday (May 6-8) on the campus of Wesleyan.
The top eight teams based on regular-season round-robin conference play qualified for the tournament. Quarterfinal matches will be held at Wesleyan University (primary site) and Amherst College (secondary site) on Friday, May 6. The semifinal and championship matches will be played at Wesleyan on Saturday, May 7 and Sunday, May 8, respectively.
The Cardinals (17-0, 10-0 NESCAC) will face #8 seed Bates (6-10, 3-7 NESCAC) in the quarterfinals on Friday afternoon (1 PM). Wesleyan defeated Bates, 9-0, in the regular season and the teams have never played each other in the NESCAC Tournament.
Wesleyan is the two-time defending NESCAC Champion, having won the 2021 title when the championship was modified to feature the top team from East and West Divisions squaring off in a single championship match due to COVID protocols. The Cardinals defeated Tufts 6-3 in the championship match. Back in 2019, when the NESCAC Tournament field was just four teams, Wesleyan defeated Bowdoin 5-1 in the semifinal and Middlebury 5-2 in the title match, claiming the first NESCAC Championship in program history.
The 2021-22 campaign is certainly the best regular season in team history and one of the best in the history of Wesleyan Athletics. The Cardinals have rolled to undefeated regular season records in consecutive seasons now, while this year's group becomes the first-ever at Wesleyan to complete an undefeated regular season (in a traditional season) since the NESCAC formally became a playing conference in 1999.
Ranked in the Top 5 nationally all season, Wesleyan enters the 2022 NESCAC Tournament eyeing a third straight crown. During this 17-0 run through the regular season, Wesleyan defeated eight Top 25 nationally ranked teams, including the defending national champion Emory in a 6-3 decision at home in mid-April. In a four-match span wherein the Cardinals faced Amherst, Middlebury, Williams and Tufts consecutively, Wesleyan came out of that brutal stretch undefeated with 7-2 victories over the Panthers and Ephs as well as 5-4 triumphs over the Mammoths and Jumbos.
In the dual match season, Wesleyan has dominated doubles play, heading into singles play with a 2-1 or 3-0 lead in 16-of-17 matches this spring. At #1,
Caitlyn Ferrante '23 and
Sasha Gaeth '23 are a perfect 13-0 as a pairing while
Sophie Henderson '22 and
Nika Vesely '25 are 13-2 at #2. The #3 spot has been a mix between
Katie Fleischman '23 and
Venia Yeung '22 (6-3 record) while
Kristina Yu '22 and
Renna Mohsen-Breen '25 are undefeated at 5-0. Wesleyan is a combined 43-7 in doubles matches this dual season.
Wesleyan has either tied their opponents or won more singles matches in all 17 dual matches this season. On only two occasions has Wesleyan won three and lost three singles matches in 2022. The Cardinals have an unblemished 15-0 combined record as a team at #6 this season, with Mohsen-Breen (4-0), Yu (3-0),
Caitlin Goldberg '23 (3-0), Gaeth (2-0) and
Kriti Williams (2-0) all contributing. The #2 spot has also been a key cog in the lineup as the Cardinals are a combined 15-1 this season at that spot in the lineup with Fleischman being a perfect 7-0 while Vesley is 6-1 from the #2 spot.
The Cardinals are 14-2 at both the #4 and #5 spots in the lineup while the team stands 14-3 at #3. Fleischman sports a 13-1 records in singles dual matches this season while Mohsen-Breen (9-0) and Williams (8-0) are undefeated. Yu, who helped lead Wesleyan to the 2019 NCAA Championship, is 11-1 in singles play while
Serim Jin '23 is 12-2.
The conference champion will receive an automatic berth into the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
