NORTON, MA- Wheaton College junior Ellen Van Faasen (Manchester, MA/Manchester Essex Regional) and sophomore Rosalyn Chesky (South Hadley, MA/Wilbraham & Monson Academy) advanced to the quarterfinal round over the weekend at the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament (NEWITT), which had matches played at Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College and Smith College.

Two other Wheaton tandems competed, as juniors Sarah Geocaris (Newport Beach, CA/Sage Hill School) and Catherine Teague (Manchester, NH/Central) advanced to the A Draw third round, while senior Katherine Knies (Purdys, NY/North Salem) and sophomore Allesandra DiOrio (Cumberland, RI/Lincoln School) went to the third round in the B Draw.

Chesky and Van Faasen went 3-1 during four three-match contests in the B Draw, posting 3-0 wins over duos from Endicott College and Suffolk University, as well as a combined pair from Amherst College and Middlebury College, before falling in the quarterfinals by a 3-0 count to a tandem from two-time defending NCAA Tournament champion Williams College.

During their opening match, Chesky and Van Faasen posted an 8-1 doubles victory over the combined duo from Amherst and Middlebury before each Lyon picked up an 8-1 singles win. An 8-3 doubles triumph against Suffolk was followed by an 8-0 singles win by Van Faasen and an 8-1 victory from Chesky. Versus Endicott, the two took an 8-3 double decision before Van Faasen won 6-1, 7-5 in singles and Chesky rallied for a 6-7, 6-3, 10-4 win. Wheaton's run ended against the Williams pair, which eventually won the B Draw championship.

Geocaris and Teague went 1-1 over the weekend, beginning the competition in the second round with an 8-0 blanking in doubles of Roger Williams University. After an 8-1 singles win against the Hawks by Geocaris and an 8-2 triumph for Teague, the two dropped a doubles decision to a Williams tandem, the tournament's seventh seed. Geocaris, who is ranked 22nd in the Northeast by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), fell to 19th-ranked junior Nicole Reich (Westfield, NJ/Westfield), while Teague suffered a 6-4, 1-6, 8-10 setback.

DiOrio and Knies also posted a 1-1 mark during the tournament. After dropping an 8-5 decision to a Babson College tandem during doubles in a second-round match, they rallied for a 2-1 team victory behind a pair of singles wins, with DiOrio taking an 8-5 match and Knies winning by an 8-2 score. The duo was bounced by Brandeis University, 2-1. A narrow 8-6 doubles loss was followed by DiOrio's 7-5, 7-5 singles victory but a 7-5, 6-4 setback by Knies.

As a team, Wheaton returns to action next Sunday for a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament semifinal match against an undetermined foe at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The top-seeded Lyons begin at 9:30 a.m., with a spot in that afternoon's final round up for grabs.