THE BASICS:
 
- Score: No. 11 MIT 5, Smith College 0
 
- Records: MIT (15-3), Smith (12-6)
 
- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (DuPont Tennis Courts)
 
- The Lead: Top-seeded and nationally ranked No. 11 MIT defeated No. 4 seed Smith College, 5-0, in the semifinals of the NEWMAC Women's Tennis Tournament on Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Engineers advance to their 11^th straight and 19^th overall NEWMAC Championship match.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
- First-years Katya Shepherd Johnson (Takoma Park, Md.) and Saina Deshpande (Pune, India) gave MIT the early lead following an 8-1 victory over Aranne Jung and Sabrina Wang in the No. 3 doubles position. Ayla Hauser and Marielle Sauber held a 2-1 edge in the No. 2 spot, however, senior Kimberly Liao (Commack, N.Y.) and first-year Anastasia Samets (Ocean, N.J.) won seven straight games to secure the win. The Engineers completed the doubles sweep after sophomores Alaina Kolli (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) and Artemis Pados (Delray Beach, Calif.) battled Lili Goshgarian and Clara Coshgarian for an 8-4 decision.
 
- Liao increased MIT's advantage to 4-0 courtesy of a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Clara Goshgarian at No. 2 singles. Deshpande quickly clinched the match in the No. 4 spot as she topped Jung, 6-0, 6-0.
 
- Among the unfinished matches, Shepherd Johnson battled back from a 4-1 deficit to tie the first set of her No. 1 match with Hauser, 6-6. Kolli had a 6-2, 4-1 advantage versus Lili Goshgarian in the No. 3 position while Samets led Wang, 6-1, 6-1, in the No. 5 slot. Pados, meanwhile, had the upper hand against Dayana Caluna as the scores were 6-0, 4-1, in the No. 6 spot.
 
- This was the fourth meeting between both programs in the NEWMAC Tournament and the first since 2003. The Engineers have won each match, all of which have occurred during the semifinals.
 
UP NEXT:
 
- MIT will host No. 2 seed and nationally ranked No. 19 Babson College for the NEWMAC Championship on Sunday, May 5 at 11:00 a.m. This will be the fifth consecutive time the Engineers will play the Beavers for the conference title.
 
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