MIDDLETOWN, CT. – Meeting for the first time since the 2025 NESCAC finals, the fourth-ranked Wesleyan women's tennis team carried a 4-3 victory over No. 6 Middlebury College on Sunday evening thanks in part to a stunning performance by the top-ranked freshmen class from inside the Bacon Field House.

For the first time in well over a year, the Cardinals were able to put away the Panthers as they sit on a four-game winning streak. Bolstering another solid recruiting class, the freshmen led the way with Lara Afolayanka '29 closing two victories in both the doubles and singles circuit.

Slotted at No. 3, Afolayanka was taken to task by Gusty Beveridge through set one, forced to a tie break as the set fell to 6-6. Afolayanka prevailed and did not drop a single point after, carrying to a 7-6 (7-2), 6-0 win.

Agnes Guggenheim '29, facing Anna Lardner as the No. 2, rallied two sets in a row as she tied the match up at one following a set one defeat. Lardner opened with the 7-5 win but could not hold off Guggenheim's 5-7, 7-5, 6-0 final.

The match point was Mariia Kornilova '29 seated at No. 5. Falling in set one to Ren Barton 1-6, Kornilova tied the match with a 6-3 second set before running six games to the 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 tally to push the Cardinals to the finish line.

The first point of the match fell to the Cardinals as two of the three doubles matches tipped in their favor. Afolayanka and partner Natalia Leroy '28 defeated Lardner and Barton 6-3 at No. 2 after Leila Epstein '26 and Lucinda Gatsiounis '28 finished 7-5 over Lulu Wu and Beveridge.

The Cardinals return to action on Thursday, March 12, in sunny Hilton Head Island, S.C., as they opened the Spring Break trip against Washington University of St. Louis at 12 p.m.