SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Mount Holyoke College tennis team carried the momentum of solid doubles play into singles action, where first year Anya Gerasimova secured the match victory from the fifth position. With the win, the Lyons improve to 6-8 overall, and 3-1 in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action, while the Pride slip to 6-5 overall and 1-3 in conference play.

Mount Holyoke opened up the evening with an 8-4 win from senior Ishita Tibrewal (Kolkata, India/Modern High School for Girls) and sophomore Ching-Ching Huang (Lukand Township, Taiwan/Taipei Municipal First Girls' HS) over Cara Freadman (Richmond, Mass./Monument Mountain) and Emily Etter (Gulford, Conn./Gulford). The Lyons duo of sophomore Catherine Peabody (San Francisco, Calif./Lick-Wilmerding HS) and first year Anya Gerasimova (Salem, Ore/West Salem), who leads the team with a 7-4 record, took down Addie Kendall (Lakeville, Mass./Apponequet) and Melissa Parrish (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) to go up 2-0. The Pride cut the deficit to 2-1 after a 9-7 win from Rachel Litchfield (Northbridge, Mass./Northbridge) and Rachel Ahlmeyer (Morris Plains, N.J./Morristown) at third doubles.

At the top of the singles lineup, Huang cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Freadman, while Peabody defeated Litchfield, 6-4, 6-1 to give the Lyons a 4-1 advantage. The Pride began to gain momentum as both Etter and Parrish earned a 6-1, 6-1 wins from the second and fifth spots, respectively to slim the Lyons lead down to 4-3.

At the fourth spot in the lineup, Gerasimova came from down 4-5 to win the first set 7-5. She then went on to cruise to a 6-1 victory in the second set, giving the Lyons a 5-3 advantage to cement the NEWMAC win. The Pride won the final match of the day at the bottom of the lineup to end the matchup, 5-4.

Mount Holyoke will look to carry the momentum into a three-game home stretch, starting with MIT on Sunday at 12:00pm. Springfield will also be back at home for face Wellesley on Saturday at 12:00pm.