CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Mount Holyoke College tennis team opened New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Friday afternoon, travelling to MIT to kick off the conference slate. Despite a strong effort, the Lyons were unable to overcome the 17th-ranked Engineers, who posted a 9-0 win at the J.B. Carr Tennis Bubble.

MIT is now 4-2 and 1-0 on the season, while MHC moves to 7-6 and 0-1.

The No. 3 doubles tandem of junior Lara Rakocevic and first-year Ashley Teng powered past Lyons senior Joy Maran and first year Hannah Middleton, 8-0, to give MIT the 1-0 advantage. The Engineers increased their lead after sophomore Libby Rickeman and first-year Viktoriya Tabunshchyk defeated junior Ching-Ching Huang and rookie Annissa Aamoum, 8-3, in the top spot. The hosts completed the doubles sweep when sophomores Marina Zhang and Vanessa Kitova topped junior Catherine Peabody and sophomore Anya Gerasimova, 8-2, in the No. 2 slot.

In singles action, Zhang bested Gerasimova, 6-0, 6-0, in the No. 3 singles position as Rakocevic clinched the match by defeating Aamoum, 6-1, 6-2, at the No. 4 spot. Rickeman defeated Huang, 6-1, 6-1, at the top of the ladder while Tabunshchyk topped Peabody, 6-2, 6-2, in the next slot. Teng dropped in set in her 6-1, 6-0 victory over Maran in the No. 5 position as Kitova blanked senior captain Clara Wang, 6-0, 6-0, in the final spot.

Mount Holyoke returns to action next Saturday when it hosts Emerson at 11am. MIT returns to action on Sunday against Highline College at the Nellie Gail Ranch Tennis Club in Laguna Hills, Calif – at 4pm eastern time.