BENNINGTON, Vt. – A spirited battle between Little 3 rivals ended in glory for the #2 seed Wesleyan women's tennis team who defeated #3 Amherst, 5-2, on Saturday in the NESCAC Semifinal round, earning a place in the NESCAC Championship match where the Cardinals will go for a fourth straight title. This marks the second straight season Wesleyan (16-1) has bounced Amherst (12-4) out of the postseason in the semifinals.
Much like the regular season meeting between these two sides less than two weeks ago, Wesleyan came out with a 2-1 lead in the doubles portion. The Cardinals coasted to an 8-2 win at #3 as
Renna Mohsen-Breen '25 and
Sarah Youngberg '26 took care of Sophie Diop and Mia Kintiroglou. Wesleyan locked in another point with
Sasha Gaeth '23 and
Kristina Yu '22 defeating Karolina Dobiecka and Katja Jules Viberg 8-5 at #1. It was nearly a clean sweep as the #2 doubles match came down to a tiebreak, which was won by Amherst's Amy Cui and Katelyn Hart 8-7 (7-4) over
Caitlyn Ferrante '23 and
Nika Vesely '25.
Playing indoors due to rain, only three courts were available, making for a tense singles portion with a spot in the final on the line. Mohsen-Breen continued to shine, picking up her team-leading 18
th singles victory of the season as she defeated Maddie Swire 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) at #6. Vesely followed with a 6-1, 6-4 win at #1 over Cui to make it 4-1 Cardinals.
Ferrante was in control of her match at #3 against Deliala Freidman, winning the opening set 6-4, but Freidman bounced back with a 6-2 second set win before the third set came down to a tiebreak. With Wesleyan one point away from clinching the match, Freidman held her nerve and came through with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) win to extend the match.
With three singles matches remaining and in need of just one win to clinch the match, Wesleyan saw Yu come through as she has done all throughout her career. In her match against Calista Sha at #4, Yu rolled to a 6-2, 6-3 win for the clinching point.
Leila Epstein '26 was leading her match at #2 against Diop 3-6, 6-3, 3-0 when Yu recorded the match-clinching point. Youngberg was one set down in her match at #5 against Dobiecka.
Awaiting the Cardinals in the NESCAC Championship is top-seed Middlebury who is the only team to have beaten Wesleyan this season (5-4 win in Middlebury on March 26. Wesleyan has faced the Panthers in NESCAC title matches twice before, both of which ended in Cardinal victories (5-4 in 2022, 5-2 in 2019).
