Waterville, ME – The Colby College women's tennis team hosted #11 Middlebury College on Saturday at the Alfond-Wales Tennis Courts, falling 7-0 to the nationally ranked Panthers. Despite the sweep, the Mules battled through several competitive flights in their penultimate home match of the regular season.
Middlebury took the early lead by sweeping the doubles round to earn the opening point. The Panthers secured 6-3 victories at all three positions, defeating the pairs of Michaela Landry and Isabella Suk at No. 1, Soumya Wijesekera and Kat Lowy at No. 2, and Ella Novion and Jade Finestone at the No. 3 spot.
In singles play, the Panthers' depth proved challenging as they took all six matches. At the No. 1 position, Jade Finestone fell 2-6, 0-6, while Ella Novion dropped a competitive 4-6, 2-6 decision at the No. 2 spot. Michaela Landry also showed great resilience at the No. 3 flight, pushing her opponent to a second-set tiebreaker before falling 0-6, 6-7.
The match of the day occurred at the No. 4 position, where Soumya Wijesekera pushed her opponent to the limit in a marathon three-set battle. After winning a tight opening set 7-6, Wijesekera fell in the second 1-6 before ultimately dropping the third-set tiebreaker 8-10. In the bottom of the order, Tina Barrow fell 4-6, 1-6 at the No. 5 spot, and senior Isabella Suk finished her match at No. 6 with a 3-6, 1-6 result.
With the loss, Colby moves to 7-9 on the season. The Mules will return to the courts tomorrow to wrap up their home schedule against Williams College.
