NORTHAMPTON, Mass.--The Smith College tennis team started out the spring season with a 5-4 victory over Curry College on Saturday.  It was the Pioneers' first win of the season.

Smith took two of the three doubles matches.   Jordan Dubin (Southampton, N.Y./Southampton) and Kyle Gouchoe-Hanas (Durham, N.C./Carolina Friends) earned an 8-5 win over Lauren Chuha and Kimberly Love at the No. 1 position, while Victoria von Saucken and Carly Melillo (Chester, Conn./Valley) defeated Emily Mongello and Alison Rhodes 8-6 at No. 3.   

The Colonels captured their first point of the match when Elizabeth Zarkades and Devin Curley beat Seema Samawi (Damascus, Syria/King's Academy) and Andrea Tanco (Veracruz, Mexico/Li Po Chun (Hong Kong)) 8-4 at the No. 2 spot.

Smith also picked up wins at three singles positions to clinch the match.  Dubin swept past Mongello 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1, while Gouchoe-Hanas beat Love 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2  Melillo clinched the match for Smith with a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 6 over Rhodes.

Curry's other points came at Nos. 3, 4, and 5.  Chuha beat Samawi 2-6, 2-6 at at No. 3, while von Saucken fell in a tight match 3-6, 6-3 (8-10) at No. 4 to Zarkades, and Tanco fell to Curley 2-6, 1-6 at No. 5.


Smith will continue spring play with a visit from Nichols College at 2 p.m. on March 9.