W Tennis Falls Just Short at Newbury
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - The Mitchell College women's tennis team nearly came away with its first NECC win of the season on Thursday but fell 5-4 to Newbury College.
Newbury extended its winning streak against the Mariners to eight games and picked up its first victory of the 2011 season. Mitchell dropped to 1-5 overall and 0-4 in NECC play.
Alexandra Derderian and Julie MacLeod set the tone for the day by shutting out Julie Embley and Jaimee Topkin in second doubles. It was not long after when Kristen Conners and Jennifer Swafford followed suit. The first singles duo held off sophomore Mackenzie Flanagan and senior Amanda Resnick by an 8-1 final.
The momentum carried over into second singles with five scintillating matches. Coming off a third singles victory against Lesley on Tuesday, Derderian held off Embley in third singles (6-1, 6-0) while MacLeod disposed of Topkin once again in fourth singles, 6-1, 6-0. Swafford sealed the deal for the Nighthawks by defeating Resnick in second singles, 6-0, 6-2.
Despite the loss, Mitchell's Jennifer Schmidt overcame a comeback from Olivia Iafrate to claim fifth singles in three sets. After losing the first set, 6-4, Iafrate answered, winning the second set 6-2 before Schmidt won the third set tie-breaker, 10-4. But the highlight of the night came from Conners.
Battling a tough opponent, Flanagan, in first singles, Connors was not going to go down easy. After losing the first set, 6-0, the Rhode Island native was resilient and almost came close to forcing a deciding game three before Flanagan claimed the 7-6 victory in set two following an eight point tie-break.
With the win, Newbury improves to 1-8 on the season and 1-4 in the conference.
Mitchell returns to action on Friday, October 7 with a make-up date against Bay Path College. The match will begin at 3 p.m. at the Mitchell Tennis Courts.