ORLANDO, Fla. - Powered by a strong doubles efforts and a near-sweep in singles, the Mount Holyoke College tennis team defeated the University of Northwestern (MN) by an 8-1 margin on Thursday at the USTA National Tennis Center in Florida. The Lyons move to 6-5 on the season, while the Eagles are now 5-6 overall.

Doubles was a clean sweep for MHC as each duo battled to tightly contested victories. In the first flight, junior Ching-Ching Huang and senior Ayame Yazawa squared off against UNW's Nikki Paskewitz and Emily Knight, besting the Eagles duo by an 8-6 margin. Second doubles saw the same score, 8-6, as junior Catherine Peabody and rookie Annissa Aamoum defeated Shawna Spears and Mafree Rinta. Lyons' seniors Joy Maran and Clara Wang - the team's captain - picked up another 8-6 win, besting UNW's Gracie Lebrun and Belinda Weddle for the 3-0 match lead.

Singles action saw several tough battles beginning with the fours as Aamoum earned her second win of the day, this time defeating Lebrun, 6-1, 6-1. Two saw Huang post a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Knight, while at six, Maran earned a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Weddle to put the Lyons up 6-0. At three, Peabody gave Mount Holyoke its seventh point with a 6-3, 6-1 win against Spears, while Northwestern picked up its lone point at five as Rinta earned a tough 6-2, 7-5 win over Wang. T

The final match of the contest saw a tough battle at one as Yazawa and Paskewitz battled to a 6-0, 2-6, 1-0 (11-9) score with the Lyons senior coming out on top.

Mount Holyoke wraps-up its spring trip to Florida on Friday when it faces the University of Sioux Falls at 8am. Northwestern also plays its final match in Floriday on Friday in an 8am tilt against Transylvania.