BY GIGI PICARD ’22
Mount Holyoke Tennis picked up where they left off from the fall season as they hosted Vassar College in their spring season opener on Saturday, Feb. 22.
“We are having a great start to our season,” Ching-Ching Huang ’20 said. “We started really strong against Vassar on Saturday, which means we have a lot to look forward to in the next few months. It was especially exciting because this was our first time playing Vassar using the six singles, three doubles match up.”
In doubles play, duo Hannah Middleton ’22 and Shweta Kiran Cavale ’23 bested their opponents 8-1.
“This season I am focusing on the mental aspect of my game,” Cavale said. We are following the [motto], ‘I am not going to lose, and currently this is what I am building upon.’”
“It feels great being back on the court.” Middleton added. “I definitely think I’m still working on getting back to how I played before but so far, so good.”
Doubles teams Huang and Annissa Aamoum ’22 and Catherine Peabody ’20 and Anya Gerasimova ’21 both fell to their opponents.
In singles play, Huang edged out nationally-ranked Miriam Gandham 6-3. “I played especially well this weekend and was able to pull off a big upset against a nationally ranked player,” Huang said. Gandham was ranked number 12 in all of Division III women’s tennis and number six in the Northeast Region.
Aamoum, Middleton, Gerasimova, Cavale and Peabody fell to their opponents in the singles matches.
The Lyons’ record is now 2-1 as they fell 7-2 against Vassar. “The rest of the team fought hard both in singles and doubles,” Huang said. “Our overall score doesn’t reflect how well we competed.”
Mount Holyoke College will host Bates College at the Mount Holyoke Field House on Saturday, Feb. 29.