Fifth-seeded tennis falls at fourth-seeded Smith in NEWMAC tournament

Kirat Kaur and Mount Holyoke fell 5-0 at Smith College in the opening round of the NEWMAC Women's Tennis Tournament on April 30, 2024. (RJB Sports file photo)
Kirat Kaur and Mount Holyoke fell 5-0 at Smith College in the opening round of the NEWMAC Women's Tennis Tournament on April 30, 2024. (RJB Sports file photo)

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- Playing in the postseason for the 18th consecutive season, the fifth-seeded Mount Holyoke College tennis team was eliminated from the NEWMAC Quarterfinals 5-0 at fourth-seeded Smith College on Tuesday afternoon.

The match concluded once the host Pioneers (12-5) notched their fifth point of the day, on Aranne Jung's 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 4 singles over Lyons sophomore captain Cal Smith (Bridgewater, Mass.). The Pioneers scored their first singles point at No. 1, where Ayla Hauser topped junior Annika Chai (London, England) 6-0, 6-1.

Mount Holyoke (11-8) trailed 3-0 after doubles play. At No. 1, Chai and sophomore Kirat Kaur (Chandigarh, India) fell 8-1 to Lili and Clara Goshgarian. At second doubles, Hauser and Marielle Sauber defeated first-year Rachel Allen (Mary Esther, Fla.) and Natali Kostadinovic (Pirot, Serbia) 8-2. Mount Holyoke sophomores Kate Vavra (Weston, Mass.) and Smith played Jung and Sabrina Wang to an 8-5 decision at No. 3 doubles.

Left undecided were four other competitive singles matches. Kaur had a 5-2 lead in the second set at No. 2 singles when the match was clinched, after dropping the first set 6-3 to Clara Goshgarian. At No. 5 singles, Vavra lost the first set 6-4 to Wang; at No. 6 singles, Kostadinovic lost the first set 6-4 to Miranda Gibson.

The Lyons, who claimed the Mount Holyoke Department of Athletics' Team GPA Award with a cumulative 3.88 grade point average, finished with their most wins since going 11-10 in 2019.