MIDDLEBURY, VT (March 10, 2024) -- The No. 15 Tufts University women's tennis team battled hard against No. 4 Middlebury College Sunday, earning a win doubles and singles but the host Panthers were too much in earning a 7-2 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) win in action from Proctor Tennis Courts.
The Jumbos (0-3, 0-2 NESCAC) fell behind early in the match as Middlebury picked up wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, but sophomore
Stephanie Woodbury and first-year
Natalie Hu finished out the doubles' portion of the match with a thrilling 8-7 (5) win to keep the Jumbos in it.
The Panthers would take a 3-1 lead with a win at No. 5 singles, followed by a 6-4, 6-3 win at the No. 1 spot by Sahana Raman over Tufts' No. 1
Zoe Kava. The clinching point would come next for the Panthers (2-0, 2-0 NESCAC) as Anna Lardner knocked off
Steffy Jullian 7-5, 6-1 for the fifth point by Middlebury.
At No. 3, sophomore
Lucy Mitchell battled back from falling in the first set, evening the match with a 6-2 win in the second set. In the third though, Mitchell would drop a 6-2 decision to Amy Delman for a final of 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
The lone singles' win for the Jumbos came at No. 2, as
Rebecca Lim also shook off a first set defeat to come back to knock off Claudia Miller 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (7) in a super-tiebreaker. The final match of the day also was a very competitive one at No. 4, as Hu was knocked off by Lulu Wu 7-6 (6), 7-5 to finish the match.
Tufts will now have a week off before heading down to Virginia to take on No. 18 Kenyon College at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA Sunday, March 17 at 11 a.m. in the first of four matches against ranked opponents over Spring Break.
--JUMBOS--
