SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. - Behind a doubles sweep and domination at the top of the singles lineup, the Mount Holyoke College tennis team defeated Emerson College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Saturday morning at the Kendall Indoor Courts. The Lyons move to 8-6 overall and are now 1-1 in conference play, while the Lions of Emerson slip to 7-5 and are now 0-2 in the NEWMAC.
Doubles action kicked things off on a positive note for MHC as the top pairing of junior Ching-Ching Huang (Lukang Township, Taiwan/Taipei Municipal First Girls' HS) and first year Annissa Aamoum (Dulles, Va./IMG Academy) cruised to an 8-1 win over Emerson juniors Alisha Parikh (San Francisco, Calif./Homestead) and Sabrina Jacobs (Demarest, N.J./Northern Valley Demarest).
The three's were next off court as senior Joy Maran (Santa Fe, N.M./Santa Fe Prep) and rookie Hannah Middleton (Stonington, Conn./Stonington) posted an 8-2 win against Lions' first year Thea Nagle (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) and junior Alex Weingarten (Carlsbad, Calif./San Dieguito Academy).
Rounding out the action at two was junior Catherine Peabody (San Francisco, Calif./Lick-Wilmerding HS) and sophomore Anya Gerasimova (Salem, Ore./West Salem) as they defeated first years Annie Woodbury (Salinas, Calif./Salinas) and Eliana Flores-Barber (Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson) by an 8-4 margin.
Singles action saw Aamoum put the Lyons ahead 4-0 as she bested Woodbury at three by a 6-3, 6-1 score. MHC sealed the match victory at two as Peabody defeated Jacobs, 6-1, 6-0. Emerson gained its first point of the match from six as Weingarter posted a 6-4, 6-0 win over Lyons rookie Nikki Cheng (Honolulu, Hawaii/McKinley), while from five, the visiting Lyons inched closer as Nagle defeated MHC senior captain Clara Wang (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand), 6-2, 6-3.
MHC's Huang gave the home team its sixth point from one as she recorded a 6-3, 6-1 win over Parikh, while the match finished up at four as Flores-Barber secured Emerson's third point with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against MHC senior Madison Rosen (Portland, Ore./Grant).
The Lyons return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Wheaton for a 4:30pm match. Emerson is right back in action on Sunday, heading to UMass-Boston for a 12pm tilt.
