South Hadley, Mass. - October 3, 2019 - The Mount Holyoke College tennis team played their first home match of the 2019-20 season on Thursday evening, and the Lyons defeated Division-I Holy Cross, 6-1, inside the MHC Field House. Playing a Division-I format, the team that won doubles earned one point, and each singles victory also earned a point.

With the win, the Lyons are now 2-0 on the year, while the Crusaders drop to 2-5 with the setback.

Starting in doubles action, Ching-Ching Huang (Lukang Township, Taiwan) and Annissa Aamoum (Dulles, Va.) defeated Sophia Papa (Gainesville, Fla.) and Katya Martin (Highland, Utah) 8-4, before Catherine Peabody (San Francisco, Calif.) and Anya Gerasimova (Salem, Ore.) knocked off Melissa Caiola and Eleanor Fulghum (East Greenwich, R.I.), 8-5. Wrapping up doubles, Hannah Middleton (Pawcatuck, Conn.) and Shweta Kiran Cavale (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) fell to Emma DeFrancesco (Slingerlands, N.Y.) and Elena Olsen, 8-5.

Huang was able to overcome Papa at No. 1 singles, 6-3, 6-3, while Gerasimova took care of Martin at No. 2 singles, winning the first set 6-2, dropping the second 6-3, but winning the tiebreaker 10-5. Peabody defeated Caiola at No. 3 singles in strong fashion, winning 6-0, 6-0, while Cavale suffered a setback to Fulghum at No. 4 singles. Cavale won the first set 6-3, lost the second set 7-6 following a 7-4 tiebreaker, and then dropped the super tiebreaker, 10-7.

At No. 5 singles, Aamoum defeated Meg O'Melveny (Dana Point, Calif.) 6-4, 6-3, while Middleton cruised past DeFrancesco 6-4, 6-2.

Up next, Mount Holyoke College will be competing between the Field House and Smith College in the NEWITT Championships, beginning on Friday, October 11.

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