Women's Tennis (11-2, 6-1) Clinches NEWMAC's Top Seed, Sends Six to NEWITT

The Wheaton College women's tennis team, which is ranked 12th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) Northeast poll, clinched a share of its first regular season league crown last week by defeating regionally-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 6-3 on Tuesday in its New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) finale before sending six competitors to the weekend's New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament (NEWITT).

The Lyons, who entered their MIT match 1-14 against the Engineers since 1996, had not beaten MIT by more than one point since the 1991 season. Wheaton, which holds the tiebreaker over NEWMAC regular season co-champion Wellesley College, will be the top seed in this weekend's league tournament. The Lyons earned a first-round bye and will compete in Sunday's semifinals at MIT, with a spot in that afternoon's championship match up for grabs. The Blue and White seeks its initial postseason crown, which would earn Wheaton an automatic berth into next spring's NCAA Tournament.

Juniors Sarah Geocaris (Newport Beach, CA/Sage Hill School) and Catherine Teague (Manchester, NH/Central) are the 11th-ranked doubles team in the region, while Teague is 15th in singles and Geocaris is 22nd. Geocaris enters the week with 95 career wins between singles and doubles.

At MIT, the Lyons tied a program record with their sixth conference victory of the season, downing a squad ranked 11th in the Northeast, one spot ahead of Wheaton. The visitors took a 2-1 edge into doubles, as the tandems of senior Katherine Knies (Purdys, NY/North Salem)/sophomore Allesandra DiOrio (Cumberland, RI/Lincoln School) and junior Ellen Van Faasen (Manchester, MA/Manchester Essex Regional)/sophomore Rosalyn Chesky (South Hadley, MA/Wilbraham & Monson Academy) each won, with DiOrio and Knies pulling out a 9-8 decision. Geocaris and Teague narrowly dropped an 8-6 decision to a regionally-ranked tandem. In singles action, Chesky, DiOrio and Knies each won in straight sets, while Van Faasen rallied for a victory in three sets. Geocaris fell in three sets to a nationally-ranked foe, and Teague took a regionally-ranked opponent to three sets.

During the NEWITT Tournament, Chesky and Van Faasen advanced to the quarterfinal round of the B Draw, going 3-1 during four three-match contests. The two combined for three doubles wins while each taking three singles matches en route to 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 to a tandem from two-time defending NCAA Tournament champion Williams College. Geocaris and Teague went 1-1 in the A Draw, beginning the competition in the second round with a 3-0 victory over Roger Williams University before falling to a Williams duo, the tournament's seventh seed. DiOrio and Knies also posted a 1-1 mark during B Draw competition, rallying for a 2-1 win in the second round over a Babson College twosome after losing the doubles match but suffering a 2-1 setback to Brandeis University. DiOrio's singles win accounted for the duo's point.