CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The No. 12 MIT women's tennis team kicked off NEWMAC play by defeating Smith College, 7-0, on Friday afternoon in the J.B. Carr Tennis Bubble.
 
THE BASICS:

• Score: No. 12 MIT 7, Smith 0
• Records: No. 12 MIT (6-2 Overall, 1-0 NEWMAC); Smith (2-6 Overall, 1-1 NEWMAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED - DOUBLES:

• MIT senior Jay Lu (Austin, Texas) and first-year Chloe Zeng (Austin, Texas) jumped out to a 4-1 lead against seniors Lili Goshgarian (Lake Forest, Ill.) and Clara Goshgarian (Lake Forest, Ill.) in the top spot. Smith trimmed its deficit to 5-3, however, Lu and Zeng quickly captured the 6-3 win.
• In a tightly contested match in the No. 2 slot, sophomore Sabrina Wang (Beijing, China) and junior Marielle Sauber (The Woodlands, Texas) won back-to-back games to take a 4-3 edge over sophomores Anastasia Samets (Ocean, N.J.) and Saina Deshpande (Pune, India). The Engineers responded by winning three straight games, notching a 6-4 victory and claiming the doubles point.
• Knotted at 3-3 in the No. 3 position, first-year Megan Sun (Newbury Park, Calif.) and junior Artemis Pados (Delray Beach, Fla.) won the next three games to defeat first-year Tabitha Bastress (Charlotte, Vt.) and sophomore Sophia Dube (Portland, Ore.).

HOW IT HAPPENED - SINGLES:

• Deshpande topped Lili Goshgarian, 6-0, 6-0, in the No. 3 spot.
• Samets won the first three games against Wang en route to a 6-2 victory in the first set of their match in the No. 4 position. She went on to build a 4-0 advantage before going on to record a 6-1 win in the second set.
• Zeng clinched the match in the top slot. She won the last three games against Sauber to post a 6-3 victory in the first set and then captured the second set, 6-2.
• In the No. 2 spot, Clara Goshgarian built a 5-2 advantage, but Lu battled back, going in front 6-5. However, Goshgarian won the next game to force a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Goshgarian won the first three points and then held a 4-2 lead. Lu responded by rattling off five straight points to secure the victory. In the second set, Lu jumped out to a 5-0 advantage en route to a 6-1 decision.
• After conceding the first game to Dube, Sun won four in a row and then registered a 6-2 victory. Sun carried the momentum into the second set as she defeated Dube, 6-1, in the No. 5 position.
• In the first set in the No. 6 spot, sophomore Alicen Liu (Novi, Mich.) won the first three games en route to 6-1 victory over first-year Alexa Konstanopoulos (Waltham, Mass.). Liu then raced out to a 5-0 advantage as she went on to record a 6-2 win in the second set.

UP NEXT:

• MIT has a quick turnaround as it will host Emerson College in a NEWMAC match on Saturday, March 22 at 10:00 AM.
• Smith returns to action on Friday, March 28 when it hosts NEWMAC foe No. 17 Babson College at 4:00 PM.

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