MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – For the second consecutive contested season, the Wesleyan women’s tennis team are Little 3 Champions as the Cardinals toppled longtime rival Amherst, 7-2, at home on Saturday afternoon from the John Wood Memorial Tennis Courts. This marks the second Little 3 title in program history for the women’s tennis team as the Cardinals’ claimed their first title back in the 2018-19 campaign. Leading 2-1 after doubles play, Wesleyan took five of the six singles matches with Polina Kiseleva ’21, Caitlin Goldberg ’23 and Alexis Almy ’22 each claiming two victories on the day.
NOTES
- For the second straight match to start the season, Wesleyan opened with a 2-1 lead after doubles play as the Cardinals’ No. 2 and No. 3 duos finished off convincing victories while Venia Yeung ’22 and Katie Fleischman ’23 fell by a score of 8-7 in a tight match at No. 1
- After defeating Williams’ No. 2 doubles pairing 8-4 last weekend, Kiseleva and Goldberg posted an identical victory over Amherst’s No. 2 team of Anya Ramras and Emily Sivarak as the Cardinal duo starts the 2021 season with a 2-0 record
- At No. 3 doubles, Almy and Megan Tran ’22 combined to take a convincing 8-3 victory over Kaya Amin and Sarah Park of Amherst in what was the first doubles match for Almy and Tran on the season (the two won by default last week at Williams)
- A week after taking the singles matches 4-2 over Williams, Wesleyan dominated with victories in five of the six singles matchups with the most-convincing win coming from Fleischman at No. 2 as she took down Ramras by a score of 6-1, 6-3
- Kiseleva was next to finish for Wesleyan as the senior won her first set at No. 3 singles against Amin 6-2 before battling to a 7-5 second set win, moving her to 2-0 in singles and 4-0 combined through Wesleyan’s first two matches on the shortened 2021 season
- Almy remained unbeaten in 2021 with her victory at No. 4 singles over Julia Lendel as the junior won the first set 6-2 before a second set tiebreak victory (7-2) came her the match-deciding 7-6 second set win
- Jin battled in her matchup at No. 5 as the first set went into a tiebreak (won by Jin) before coming from behind to take the second set 6-4 and win the match over Park
- Goldberg’s first singles action of 2021 went into a deciding third set tiebreak as she won the first set 6-4 over Sivarak before dropping the second set 6-1. In the third set tiebreak, Goldberg took over and dominated to the tone of a 10-2 win, taking her first collegiate singles victory
- It was a battle at No. 1 singles as Yeung took Amherst’s Bukzin best shot in the first set, falling 6-0 before digging in and battling to a 7-6 second set win. In the tiebreak, Bukzin got the better of Yeung 10-5 in what was the closest match in the singles portion
Singles
- #1: Bukzin (AMH) def. Yeung (WES) 6-0, 6-7, 10-5
- #2: Fleischman (WES) def. Ramras (AMH) 6-1, 6-3
- #3: Kiseleva (WES) def. Amin (AMH) 6-2, 7-5
- #4: Almy (WES) def. Lendel (AMH) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
- #5: Jin (WES) def. Park (AMH) 7-6, 6-4
- #6: Goldberg (WES) def. Sivarak (AMH) 6-4, 1-6, 10-2
Doubles
- #1: Bukzin/Lendel (AMH) def. Yeung/Fleischman (WES) 8-7
- #2: Kiseleva/Goldberg (WES) def. Ramras/Sivarak (AMH) 8-4
- #3: Almy/Tran (WES) def. Amin/Park (AMH) 8-3
UP NEXT
Next weekend comes with it a huge matchup as Wesleyan (2-0) welcomes Middlebury (1-0) to Middletown in what will be the first dual match between the two sides since the 2019 NESCAC Championship where the Cardinals took down the Panthers by a score of 5-2 to claim the program’s first-ever NESCAC title.