WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – A resounding performance from the two-seed Wesleyan women's tennis team saw contributions up and down the lineup paved the way for a 5-2 win in the NESCAC Championship match to defeat the top-seed Middlebury on Sunday from the campus of Williams College. Wesleyan (17-1) wins their fourth straight NESCAC Championship, tied for the second-longest title run in NESCAC history, and earned the league's automatic bid into the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
 
In a rematch of the 2019 and 2022 NESCAC Championship matches, these two Top 5 ranked teams opened with a quick doubles portion as all three matches were lobsided wins. Luckily for Wesleyan, the Cardinals claimed two of those dominating wins to take a 2-1 lead into singles. Nika Vesely '25 and Caitlyn Ferrante '23 made quick work of Gena Huang and Claudia Miller with an 8-1 win at #2 while Renna Mohsen-Breen '25 and Sarah Youngberg '26 toppled Amanda Frank and Nathalie van der Reis 8-3 at #3. Middlebury got one point back at #1 as Amy Delman and Sahana Raman defeated Sasha Gaeth '23 and Kristina Yu '22, 8-3.
 
For Mohsen-Breen and Youngberg, it was a bit of payback of the young Cardinal tandem's only loss in the dual match season came to the Panthers in their regular season matchup on March 26. Following today's win, Mohsen-Breen and Youngberg are now 16-1 as a doubles team this season.
 
Moving on to the singles portion, Wesleyan seemed to be in complete control early, winning the first set on five of the six courts. However, Middlebury was first to finish as Lulu Wu defeated Ferrante 6-2, 6-0 at #3 as the Panthers tied the team score at 2-2. Wu showed up in a big way as Ferrante got the best of Wu in the regular season (6-1, 6-2).
 
Competing in her first career NESCAC Championship, Leila Epstien '26 played well beyond her years as she controlled play in a 6-2, 6-3 win at #2 singles over Delman who defeated the Cardinal first-year 6-1, 6-4 in the regular season. Epstein's first career postseason singles win came in a big spot as Wesleyan retook a 3-2 lead.
 
The next result moved Wesleyan one point away from clinching the match as Vesely toppled Sahana Raman 6-2, 6-4 at #1, pushing the score to 4-2 Cardinals. Vesely continues to roll in singles play this season, as she is 14-0 in dual matches from the #1 singles position for Wesleyan in 2023.
 
Even with the early advantage, winning the opening set on five of the six courts, Middlebury responded with second set wins at #4, #5, and #6, sending all three remaining courts into a deciding third set. Armed with a 4-2 lead, however, Wesleyan needed just one win while the Panthers needed to sweep all three remaining matches to take home the crown.
 
That clinching point came from the most-experienced Cardinal in the lineup as Yu defeated van der Reis 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 at #4 singles. Yu is the only Cardinal on the roster to have been a member of all four NESCAC Championship winning teams and her experience paid off as the graduate student lost a tight second set, only to rebound with a 6-2 third set win to seal the victory.
 
In the remaining two singles matches, Youngberg was leading in the third set 6-1, 4-6, 4-3 at #5 against Huang while Katie Fleischman '23 led Claudia Miller 6-3, 4-6, 4-2 at #6.
 
The Cardinals improve to a perfect 4-0 record in NESCAC title matches as the team had only advanced as far as the semifinal round prior to the current four-year Championship run.
 
Wesleyan advances to the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in program history as well as the seventh consecutive dating back to 2016. The Cardinals won the NCAA Championship in 2019 while the team was the national runner-up in 2021 and a semifinalist in 2022.