SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – First year Allison Burton claimed victory at five to give fifth-seeded Wheaton College a 5-4 victory over fourth-seeded Mount Holyoke College in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Tennis Tournament quarterfinal round on Saturday afternoon at the MHC Tennis Courts.
Wheaton (9-8, 4-4 NEWMAC) will take on No. 1 MIT (15-2, 8-0 NEWMAC) in the Semifinal round of the NEWMAC Tournament on Tuesday, May 1 at 3:30 p.m. on the campus of MIT. It marks Wheaton's first appearance in the NEWMAC Tournament Semifinal Round since 2013-14. Mount Holyoke's season comes to a close at 8-11 overall (5-3 NEWMAC).
Doubles play got things going in the match as the Wheaton duo of junior Ines de Bracamonte (Sunny Isles Beach, Fla./Pine Crest) and sophomore Isabelle Garvanne (Los Angeles, Calif./Chadwick) grabbed the opening point with an 8-2 win against MHC's sophomore Ching-Ching Huang (Lukang Township, Taiwan/Taipei Municipal First Girls' HS) and senior captain Ishita Tibrewal (Kolkata, India/Modern High School for Girls) at one.
The visiting Lyons' made it a 2-0 advantage from three as Burton (Hingham, Mass./Hingham) and sophomore Harley Swainston (Hudsonville, Mich./Hudsonville) edged past Mount Holyoke juniors Joy Maran (Santa Fe, N.M./Santa Fe Prep) and Madison Rosen (Portland, Ore./Grant) by an 8-6 margin.
Wrapping up doubles play was the second pairing of sophomore Catherine Peabody (San Francisco, Calif./Lick-Wilmerding HS) and first year Anya Gerasimova (Salem, Ore./West Salem) as they put MHC on the board with an 8-3 victory over Wheaton junior Connor O'Keefe (Lutz, Fla./George M. Steinbrenner) and senior Jodi Katz (Needham, Mass./Needham).
In singles action, with Wheaton up by a 2-1 margin, Garvanne turned in a 6-4, 6-1 decision over Tibrewal from two. de Bracamonte then made it a 4-1 advantage for the visiting Lyons at one with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Huang.
Gerasimova moved Mount Holyoke back within two (4-2) with a 6-0, 6-0 victory against O'Keefe from four, while Peabody powered her way to a 6-1, 6-4 win over Katz at three to pull the home team back to within one (4-3).
At six, MHC junior Clara Wang (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) gained the equalizer, battling back from a 1-6 opening deficit to earn the decision against Swainston, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 and move the match to 4-all.
Court five came down to a battle for the right to move on as Rosen and Burton battled it out. MHC gained the leading edge as Rosen won 6-3 to open, but Burton powered back, taking the final decision by a 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 margin.
