SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – The Lyon of the Week has been announced and tennis student-athlete Clara Wang is this week's recipient. The rookie battled her way to a hard-fought victory in last weekend's match against Trinity, which the Lyons narrowly lost.
A first year from Madison, Conn., Wang played at the fourth position against Trinity's Ania Aliev on Saturday. She fell behind in the opening set by a 1-6 margin, but battled back for a 6-2 victory in the second. Due to the fact that the Lyons were still in contention to win, Wang was forced to play a full deciding third set, which she won by a 7-5 margin. The Lyons were unable to battle back, falling 5-4.
Wang also combined with junior Amy Chen to post a 9-7 victory from third flight doubles against the Bantams' Zone Lindbloom and Jane Weber.
It has been an outstanding start to the spring season for Wang, who is 2-0 in both singles and doubles action. In the Lyons first outing of 2016 - a 6-3 loss to Bates, she combined with Chen for a 9-8 (7-4) third doubles victory and went on to win fourth flight singles by a 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-2) score.
On the season, the former Daniel Hand standout owns a record of 8-4 in singles play. She is currently 2-3 in doubles action. Among her victories in singles including NEWMAC victories against Wheaton, Emerson, Smith and Clark.
The Lyons (8-6) return to action on Tuesday when they host the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez at 5:30pm. MHC closes out the week against Colby-Sawyer at home on Saturday at 10am.