SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College earned a 6-3 win over nearby Division II opponent American International College on Saturday in Kendall Field House to kick off the spring season in strong fashion for the host Lyons.

Mount Holyoke (2-1) benefited from three default points against the shorthanded Yellow Jackets (0-8), but played toe-to-toe with AIC for the remaining six points, splitting them in half.

Senior captain Shweta Kiran Cavale (Chennai, India) and first-year Cal Smith (Bridgewater, Mass.) posted an 8-3 victory at No. 2 doubles over Maria Cedeno and Charlotte Tvelia, while AIC's Natalija Vlacic and Victoria Azcona topped Mount Holyoke sophomore captain Annika Chai (London, England) and first-year Jaskirat Kaur (Mohali, India) at No. 1 doubles. Those results along with a default point gave the Lyons a 2-1 lead going into singles play.

Smith claimed the first singles point for Mount Holyoke, defeating Tvelia 6-1, 6-2, , effectively giving the win to the host Lyons when combined with two more default points.
Cavale then downed Cedeno 7-5, 6-1 for Mount Holyoke's sixth team point of the match.

The first and second singles matches both went to a third-set tiebreaker, with AIC prevailing in both, as Azcona edged Kaur 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 at No. 2 singles, while Vlacic topped Chai 6-4, 6-7(0), 10-6 at No. 1.

Mount Holyoke will next play at Bates College on Wednesday, March 15 at 7pm. AIC is next slated to play at St. Michael's on March 24.