The women’s tennis team took a pair of matches this week to improve to 11-1 on the season, with seniors Felice Trinh and Emily Petersack reaching the 100-win milestone on the way.
Trinh and Petersack started the Lions’ 8-1 victory against Stevens Institute of Technology by winning a doubles match 8-2, their 99th wins for the College, while juniors Paige Aiello and Lauren Balsamo combined for an 8-5 win.
The Lions kept the momentum going in singles, where they swept the Ducks and Trinh and Petersack earned their 100th career wins.
“They’ve had a great career to get to that 100-win mark. They’ve been a doubles team the last two years, and they’ve been very very successful as a team,” head coach Scott DiCheck said on Monday. “I know they were both very excited the way it played out, that they got it on the same day.”
Aiello (second), Balsamo (third), freshman Deborah Wu (fourth) and freshman Sarah Lippincott (fifth) also won in singles to secure the home victory. The Lions continued their good form by beating a solid Swarthmore College squad, 7-2.
“We were geared up for the Swarthmore match since we had a great match against them last year,” DiCheck said. “We expected another great match and it turned out that way.”
An early sweep in doubles would set the tone for the Lions. Juniors Karisse Bendijo and Allison Tierney won a dramatic contest in doubles that ended 9-8 (7-5), and the pairings of Trinh-Petersack and Aiello-Balsamo won for the second time in as many matches, 8-4 and 8-3.
“We played some really good tennis and took advantage of doubles. Doubles was the turning point, once we got a 3-0 lead it really turned the match around,” DiCheck said.
Petersack’s win in doubles was her 65th, putting her in a tie for tenth on the program’s all-time winners in doubles, while Trinh is just behind at 64.
Bendijo (first), Trinh (second) Wu (fifth) and Petersack (sixth) picked up points in singles to give the Lions the victory, their 11th in 11 games against Division II and III teams.
The women’s team next heads to University of Mary Washington this Sunday, while the men’s team will compete against Kutztown University, Skidmore College and Franklin and Marshall College on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively, to continue its season.
The men’s and women’s tennis teams were scheduled to play New York University on Sunday, but the matches were cancelled due to impending inclement weather.
