SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – Despite a late surging effort, the Mount Holyoke College tennis team was unable to overcome the deficit, falling to Trinity College by a 5-4 margin on Saturday. With the win, the Bantams move to 3-2 overall, while the Lyons slip to 8-6 on the season.
Trinity got off to a solid start to open the match, as senior Melita Ferjanic (Samobor, Croatia/Sportska Gimnazija) and sophomore Vanja Babunski (Belgrade, Serbia/Treca Beogradska Gimnazija) posted an 8-3 win against MHC's Ayame Yazawa (Tokyo, Japan/St. Johnsbury Academy (VT) and Margaux Holloschutz (Franklin Lakes, N.J./Saddle River Day School) in first doubles.
The Bantams then saw sophomores Ania Aliev (Needham, Mass./Buckingham, Browne & Nichols) and Sara Curtis (Milton, Mass./Ursuline Academy) notch an 8-4 win against Lyons' sophomore Ishita Tibrewal (Kolkata, India/Modern HS for Girls) and first year Madison Rosen (Portland, Ore./Grant) at two.
Mount Holyoke battled back in the third flight as junior Amy Chen (Hilo, Hawaii/Hilo) and first year Clara Wang (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) gutted out a 9-7 victory over first years Zoe Lindbloom (Wayzata, Minn./Orono) and Jane Weber (Winchester, Mass./Winchester).
Trailing 1-2, the Lyons picked up a point at first singles as Trinity's Ferjanic was forced to retire, despite being up 6-3, 4-1, due to an injury. Lindbloom then defeated Tibrewal, 6-0, 6-3 at the third flight to put MHC down 2-3.
Trinity's Sara Curtis then won at six over Rosen, 6-2, 6-0, followed by a victory for Babunski over Holloschutz, 6-1, 6-2, to put the Bantams up 2-5. MHC senior captain Michelle Cai (Hong Kong, China/St. Paul's Co-Educational College) rallied for a 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5) win over Emily Curtis at five.
The final match of the day saw Wang square-off against Aliev at four with the visitor grabbing a 6-1 win to open. Wang battled back for a 6-2 win and the duo played a full third set, due to the fact that it was a 2-4 score when the final set began. Wang took it 7-5.
Mount Holyoke returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez at 5:30pm, while Trinity welcomes Colby next Saturday at 2pm.
