CAMBRIDGE, MA - On Sunday, September 14th, the Amherst College women's tennis team wrapped up their first tournament of the season at the MIT Invitational in Cambridge.
The Mammoths started their busy weekend of matches on Friday, and they played until Sunday afternoon. In addition to Amherst, the invitational tournament consisted of 3 rivals: MIT, Bowdoin, and Tufts.
RESULTS HIGHLIGHTS:
- Sophomore Tina She from Canada, had an impressive run at the tournament, making it all the way to the semifinals of the singles main draw, and losing in a close battle to the eventual winner of the tournament. On Saturday, She had 2 stunning wins against highly seeded players. In the Round of 16, She bested Bowdoin's #5 seed, Pogorelec with a score of 2-6, 6-0, 10-6. In her second match of the day, She stunned the #1 seed, Fiona Lee of MIT in a three-set fight to advance to the semifinals. She came back from a 0-1 set deficit for the second time of the day in her match against Lee, besting her with a score of 3-6, 6-2, 10-8. On Sunday, she faced Tufts's Woodbury, the #3 seed and played her third consecutive three-set match. This time, She fell after winning the first set. The final score of the semifinal match-up was 6-3, 5-7, 7-10 to Woodbury, the eventual winner of the singles tournament
- Senior captain, Sophie Diop was in form this weekend, making it to the quarterfinals without dropping a set. In the Round of 16, the Boston native prevailed against MIT's Pados with a score of 6-3, 6-4. In the quarterfinals, Diop faced the #2 seed, Gershaw of Tufts. After winning the first set 7-5, Gershaw fought back to win the second 6-3, and clinched the semifinal spot in the third set tiebreaker with a score of 12-10. Gershaw made it all the way to the final, where she lost to her teammate, Woodbury with a score of 6-4, 6-4. Diop also received the sportsmanship award alongside Amherst's Voinescu.
- In the doubles draw, She and Dobiecka made it to the semifinals where they faced Bowdoin's Hartung and Sun. In the semifinal match, the #2 seeded Bowdoin team prevailed with a score of 8-5. In the final, the Bowdoin duo fell to MIT's Pados and Kolli with a score of 8-7.
- In the singles consolation draw, first-year Duduka won four consecutive matches to win the draw. In the final of the consolation, she faced Bowdoin's Hartung, besting her in three sets with a score of 2-6, 7-6, 10-8.
UP NEXT:
- After getting the opportunity to compete this weekend, the Mammoths will now return to the practice courts in preparation for their next tournament starting in less than two weeks on September 26th. Amherst will play in the ITA Division III New England Regional Championships hosted by Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT. Like the MIT Invitational, this tournament will involve a large singles and doubles draw.
