WILLIAMSTOWN - Tufts University sophomore
Sophie Wax and first-year
Rachel Cranley in singles, and the doubles pair of Cranley with classmate
Lucy Mitchell all advanced to the round of 16 on the first day of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Championships hosted by Williams College on Friday.
Doubles was played first and the Cranley-Mitchell duo (a 9-16 seed) had a bye in the first round. In the round of 32 the Jumbo pair won against Ella Subramanian and Phoebe Tamaoki of Brandeis 8-6. Tufts' team will play at 9 am Saturday in the round of 16 against tournament #8 seed Cara Hung and Jamilah Karah from Bowdoin.
Cranley is on to the "Sweet 16" individually as well. She won twice on Friday, taking Evelyn Safar (Bowdoin) quickly 6-0, 6-1 and then defeating 9-16 seed Sam Riordan of Colby 6-1, 7-5. Wax also played very well with straight-set victories in her two matches. She topped Sasha Gaeth from Wesleyan 6-4, 6-1 in the first round, and then ousted 9-16 seed Calista Sha from Amherst 6-3, 6-1 in the second round. Cranley faces #1 seed Sarah Pertsemlidis of MIT and Wax goes up against #2 seed Olivia Soffer from Babson in the round of 16 tomorrow.
All five Tufts players in the A singles bracket won their first matches today, with
Rebecca Lim, Mitchell and
Madeline Suk all advancing before losing in the second round. Suk and Lim also won their opener in doubles before losing in the round of 32.
For B singles, played in eight-game pro sets, the Jumbos won three times.
Steffy Jullian defeated Ananya Aggarwal from Williams (8-5), fourth-seed
Michelle Shub edged Alexandra Francis of Trinity 8-7 (4), and second-seeded
Stephanie Woodbury defeated Smith's Clara Goshgarian 8-2. They will each play round of 16 matches on Saturday as well.
Day 2 action begins Saturday at 9:00 am.
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