MIDDLETOWN, CT (September 22, 2023) -- Sophomore
Rachel Cranley moved into the Round of 16 in the "A" singles draw Friday at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) New England Regional Championships, while three doubles pairs also stayed alive in action from Wesleyan University in the first day of play.
Cranley, who was a seeded player in the "A" singles draw, started her day with a victory over Gena Huang of Middlebury College 6-4. 4-6, 11-9. In the second round, Cranley knocked off Josephine Kimball of Trinity College 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the Round of 16 to battle No. 6 seed Leila Epstein of Wesleyan Saturday morning.
In other "A" draw action,
Zoe Kava was paired up with top-seed Olivia Soffer of Babson College and was knocked off 6-3, 6-1. Senior
Sophie Wax also played in the "A" draw, falling to Anna Lardner of Middlebury 6-3, 6-0.
The "B" singles draw also saw some strong success for the Jumbos, as first-year
Natalie Hu earned three victories to get into the quarterfinals on Saturday. Hu knocked off Michaela Landry of Colby College 8-7 (4) in the play-in round, and then topped No. 5 seed Lizzy Yu of Bowdoin College 8-4.
Hu kept things going in the Round of 16, defeating Juliete Muschella of Babson College 8-1 in a dominating effort. Hu will take on Alaina Kolli of MIT on Saturday morning.
Rebecca Lim won her Round of 32 match against Kavina Amin of Middlebury, but ended up being eliminated by No. 1 seed Alicen Liu of MIT 8-6.
Sophomore
Nikki Kintiroglou earned a play-in round win over Artemis Pados of MIT 8-7(5), but was topped by Bowdoin's Zoe Sun in the Round of 32 with a score of 8-1. Fellow sophomore
Stephanie Woodbury also started the day with a win, defeating Kriti Sarav of Wellesley College 8-3.
Sophomore Steffy Julian was also a Round of 32 winner in the "B" draw, as she topped Julia Zhang of Williams College 8-6 before falling to Sun in the Round of 16 with a pro-set score of 8-2.
Tufts had a banner day on the doubles' courts on Friday afternoon, as all three pairs moved into the Round of 16 on Saturday. Kava and Lim, seeded No. 7 in the draw, earned a bye into the second round and then knocked off Sanjana Kumar and Lika Bolkvadze of Brandeis College 8-2.
Hu and Woodbury earned a win over Maddie Omicioli and Landry of Colby 8-6, and then knocked off seeded Julia Ross and Lizzy Yu of Bowdoin 8-5. Seeded Cranley and Wax also received a bye to the Round of 32, and topped Sabrina Loui and Chahana Budhbhatti of Brandeis 8-4.
Lim and Kava will take on Jane Ladaga and Margaux Molyneux of Williams Saturday, while Hu and Woodbury will battle No. 5 seed Yuu Ishikawa and Erica Ekstrand of Williams. Cranley and Wax will take on No. 2 seed Amy Delman and Sahana Raman of Middlebury.
All action will begin at Bacon Field House and NHHR at 8:30 a.m. in the second day of play.
--JUMBOS--
