PROVIDENCE, RI (March 7, 2023) - The Tufts University women's tennis team was defeated 5-2 by Division I and Ivy League opponent Brown University on Tuesday afternoon.
With Brown as host, the match was played with Division I rules for doubles. Each of the three doubles matches was played as one set to six, with the team that wins at least two of the three matches awarded one point. Brown won the point, starting with the #2 pair of Alexandra Benedetto and Olivia Mariotti defeating
Sophie Wax and
Zoe Kava by a 6-3 score. The Bears clinched the doubles point in the #1 match where Nora Lee and Lindsey Hofflander topped Tufts'
Rachel Cranley and
Rebecca Lim 6-3. The Jumbos did get a victory in the third doubles match, with
Caroline Garrido and
Madeline Suk getting past Addison Ahlstrom and Gabriella Soliman also by a 6-3 score.
Ahlstrom took a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Lim in fourth singles to put the hosts up 2-0 overall. Brown would take the first set in all four singles matches that were on at the start, but Tufts played better in their second sets. Kava forced a third-set in the sixth singles match and Wax worked her way out of a 4-1 hole in first singles to tie the second set at 5-5 before she was edged 6-1, 7-5 by Benedetto for the third Brown point. Hofflander then won the sixth-singles third set against Kava to clinch the match for the Bears with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 scoring line.
Tufts would win twice in singles - both by first-years - after the team score had been determined. Cranley lost a close tie-breaker in the first set on the second singles court 7-6 (3), but continued her fine play with 6-4 and 7-6 (5) victories over Mariotti to secure Tufts' first point. A 6-1, 6-1 win by Brown's Lee over Suk in the #4 match gave the hosts a 5-1 advantage, but Tufts finished up with a 7-6 (1), 6-4 #3 win by
Lucy Mitchell against Soliman.
Eighth-ranked Tufts will host a pair of national top 15 teams this weekend with #5 Middlebury College (Saturday) and #13 Williams College (Sunday) visiting.
--JUMBOS--
