AMHERST - The fourth-seeded Middlebury Panthers earned a 5-1 opening round victory over fifth-seeded Tufts at the 2013 NESCAC Women's Tennis Championship hosted by Amherst on Friday.
Staking the Panthers to an early lead, Lok-Sze Leung and Ria Gerger cruised to an 8-1 victory over Lindsay Katz (Baltimore, MD) and Samantha Gann (Massapequa, NY) at second doubles. Brittany Faber and Leah Kepping followed suit with an 8-0 decision over Shelci Bowman (Dallas, TX) and Lauren Hollender (Newton, MA) in the top slot. The lone Jumbo victory of the day came in third doubles, where Sophie Schonfeld (Washington, DC) and Janice Lam (San Francisco, CA) put Tufts on the board with an 8-4 triumph over Margot Marchese and Lauren Amos.
Leung kept Middlebury rolling at first singles, dropping just one game to Katz in a 6-1, 6-0 decision. Gerger then put the Panthers one win away with a 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Gann. Dorrie Paradies closed out the match with a 6-3, 6-4, win over Lam at fifth singles.
Sixth-ranked Middlebury will face top-seeded Amherst in tomorrow's semifinal slated for 1 pm. Tufts (8-9), ranked #18 in Thursday's Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, will await a possible at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament.
Match results
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