SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. - Thursday night's battle between Mount Holyoke College and the College of the Holy Cross came down to a super tie-breaker match as the Crusaders pulled out a 5-4 victory over the Lyons. With the victory, Holy Cross - which is a Division I opponent - moves to 3-4 overall, while MHC suffers its first loss of the season and is now 1-1.
Following doubles action, which saw the Crusaders grab a 2-1 advantage, the homestanding Lyons pulled things even with a pair of solid singles victories. Senior captain Ishita Tibrewal (Kolkata, India/Modern High School for Girls) made it a 2-2 affair after she posted a 6-0, 6-1 win over first year Katya Martin (Highland, Utah/Lone Peak) from the second flight. MHC rookie Anya Gerasimova (Salem, Ore./West Salem) then made it a 3-2 edge for the Lyons after she recorded a 6-0, 6-4 win from the fourth flight against Morgan McGuire (Franklin Lakes, N.J./Indian Hills).
Holy Cross grabbed the equalizer from the fifth flight as junior Jennifer Kary (Scarsdale, N.Y./School of the Holy Child) bested Mount Holyoke's Madison Rosen (Portland, Ore./Grant), 6-2, 6-3. Junior Caroline Kam (Stonington, Conn./St. George's) put the score back in the visitors favor soon after as she and Lyons junior Clara Wang (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) gutted out to a super tie-breaker at six. Wang captured the opening set, but Kam went on to claim the victory, 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (13-11).
Down 4-3, MHC sophomore Ching-Ching Huang (Lukang Township, Taiwan/Taipei Municipal First Girls' HS) fought to tie things at 4-all after she notched a 6-2, 6-3 victory over junior Allison Reiling (Mendham, N.J./Morristown-Beard) from the first flight.
The match came down to the final battle at three. MHC sophomore Catherine Peabody (San Francisco, Calif./Lick-Wilmerding) opened with a 6-4 victory, but Holy Cross senior Katie Elia (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) bounced back with a 6-0 win in the second to force the tie-breaker. It was a close match as Elia pulled out the 10-8 edge in the super tie-breaker to win the match and give the Crusaders the team victory.
Both teams played hard in the opening doubles as the Holy Cross duo of Reiling and McGuire posted a close 8-6 win over Huang and Tibrewal. In the third flight, Crusaders senior Meghan Lewis (Bernardsville, N.J./Villa Walsh Academy) edged Rosen and Wang by an 8-6 margin as well. The Lyons' lone doubles came at the two spot as Peabody and Gerasimova gutted out a 9-7 win over Elia and Martin.
Mount Holyoke is now idle until October 13 when it hosts the 2017 NEWITT Tournament. Action begins on Friday at 12pm and continues on Saturday (10/14) and Sunday (10/15). Start times for the weekend action is 9am. Holy Cross returns to the courts on Sunday when it competes at the Connecticut College Tournament beginning at 10am.
