THE MATCHUP: The Lyons are back on their home court on Tuesday, taking on area and league-rival, Smith College. The match marks the 66th all-time meeting between the two schools since the rivalry first began in 1977. The Pioneers own the series advantage with a 41-24-0 margin, but the Lyons have been successful as of late with wins in each of the last five contests.
THE LYONS: Mount Holyoke (3-3; 2-2 NEWMAC) went 1-1 last week with a victory over Clark (6-3) and a narrow loss at Wellesley (5-4). Trailing 2-1 after doubles action, the Lyons bounced back in a big way against the Cougars, taking five of six singles matches for the victory. Against Wellesley, the third doubles pairing of Margaux Holloschutz and My-Linh Nguyen improved to 5-1 on the season in their flight and the Lyons took a 2-1 edge after the opening doubles action, but the Blue fought back in singles to take the lead. With the match knotted at 3-3, the final result came down to the last three matches on court. Wellesley made it 4-3 when Diana Granger defeated Nahrhee Han 6-3, 6-3 at one and then sealed the team victory with a 6-2, 6-2 win by Erica Choo over AnnElizabeth Konkel at two. The final match on court went to Mount Holyoke, as Eman Malik pulled out a three-set thriller win over Wellesley's Catherine Matulis, 5-7, 7-5, 10-7, in the fourth position.
THE PIONEERS: Smith (0-4, 0-4 NEWMAC) fell 9-0 to NEWMAC-foe Wheaton last Saturday afternoon. In doubles play, Smith's No. 1 tandem of Bayla Weick and Haruka Shimoto to Alexandra Marlow and Lyndsay Cooke by an 8-1 score. Jordan Dubin and Kyle Gouchoe-Hanas lost to Morgan Bell and Sarah Crom at No. 2 by the same score, while Jana Chan and Lindsay Roth were Smith's No. 3 team, and were defeated by Caroline DiNicola and Jesse Boggis 8-2. Wheaton captured all six singles matches in straight sets.
NEXT UP: Both teams are back on the courts this weekend when they compete in the New England Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament. Action at the tournament, which will be played at MHC, Amherst and Smith, begins on Friday at 1pm and runs through Sunday.
