NORTHAMPTON, Mass. - The Smith College tennis team earned their first New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) win of the season with a 6-3 victory over Clark University Wednesday afternoon.

BOX SCORE

With the win, Smith improves to 2-6 overall and 1-6 in conference. The Cougars drop to 5-7 and 1-6 in the NEWMAC.

In the top doubles position, Noa Dubin (Southampton, N.Y./Southampton) and Sam Peikes (West Hartford, Conn./Watkinson School) found their groove early and cruised to an 8-0 win. 

The No. 3 duo Janan Fugel (Franklin Lakes, N.J./Saddle River Day School) and Alexandra Steck (Albany, N.Y./Emma Willard) found themselves behind 7-6 late in the third set. However, the pair were able to calm their nerves and played some smart doubles and won 3 straight games to take the match 9-7.

At the No. 2 slot, Kelli Cheung (Plainfield, N.J./Academy for Information Technology) and Margaret Anne Smith (Spring Lake, N.J./High Technology) played their best doubles match of the season together but it wasn't enough to hold off Clark who took the set 9-7.

No. 4 Margaret Anne Smith (Spring Lake, N.J./High Technology) finished in an unusually speedy style for her. She showed us a new side of her game in the second set, looking for chances to come to net and put away volleys. This aggressive style of play combined with her usual steadiness gave her a 6-0, 6-0 victory

Kelli Cheung (Plainfield, N.J./Academy for Information Technology) followed her doubles partner and earned her team a singles win as well from the No. 5 position 6-2, 6-1.

Junior captain Sam Peikes (West Hartford, Conn./Watkinson School) cruised to a 6-4, 6-0 win at the No. 2 slot.

The winning point came at the No. 3 slot from Joanna Kim (Chicago, Ill./Northside College Prep), who had a rematch of her Clark match from the year prior. This time Kim found a way to take her match in straight sets, winning 7-6 (6-2), 6-4  

Smith competes in their final NEWMAC match of the season this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. against Emerson.