NORTHAMPTON, Mass. –
Margaret Anne Smith (Spring Lake, N.J./High Technology) earned a 6-0, 6-2 victory at No. 5 singles to lift the Smith College tennis team past Colby-Sawyer, 5-4, in a non-conference match at the Indoor Track and Tennis Facility on Friday night.
The Pioneers (3-11) earned their second consecutive win over a Division III team and, in the process, snapped the Chargers (10-5) eight-match winning streak, which dates back to the fall.
Melanie Sayarath (St. Johnsbury, Vt./St. Johnsbury Academy) and
Ruth Yi (Federal Way, Wash./Beamer) cruised to an 8-2 win over Allyse Mullen and Ziyoda Saidova at No. 3 doubles. The Chargers countered with an 8-2 victory of their own at No. 1 as Elizabeth Lincoln and Ashlyn Ramsay held a 3-2 lead before capturing five consecutive games to claim the victory over Smith and
Seema Samawi (Damascus, Syria/King's Academy).
Kelli Cheung (Plainfield, N.J./Union County Acad.) and
Isabelle Eyman (Franconia, N.H./Profile High School) gave the Pioneers a 2-1 advantage as they emerged with an 8-6 triumph over Oxana Tkachenko and Ellen Graham at No. 2.
Colby-Sawyer, a 2013 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship first round participant, took the top three singles flights. Lincoln downed Cheung 6-2, 6-3 as Ramsay topped Sayarath 6-4, 6-1 and Tkachenko defeated Eyman 6-4, 6-3.
Samawi and Graham went toe-to-toe in the first set as Samawi claimed the point with a 7-5, 6-1 triumph. Yi later knotted the match at 4-4 with a double bagel win at No. 6 singles to set the table for Smith.
The Pioneers host Simmons tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. while Colby-Sawyer remains in the area to face Mount Holyoke for a 10:30 a.m. match in South Hadley.
