REDLANDS, Calif. – The No. 8 MIT women's tennis team kicked off its spring break trip in California by battling No. 29 University of Redlands for a 5-2 victory on Monday. This was the first meeting between the Engineers and Bulldogs in program history.
 
THE BASICS:

• Score: No. 8 MIT 5, No. 29 Redlands 2
• Records: No. 8 MIT (6-1 Overall); No. 29 Redlands (6-7 Overall)

HOW IT HAPPENED - DOUBLES:

• Carley Chen and Chloe Zeng defeated Vrishitha Sambathkumar and Sophia Truong, 6-0, in the No. 2 position.
• In the No. 1 spot, Alaina Kolli and Artemis Pados fell to Maegan Deng and Lindsey Whelan, 6-2.
• Trailing 5-1 to Helaina Reynoso and Jasmine Sheets in the No. 3 slot, Katie Driscoll and Anastasia Samets won five straight games to take a 6-5 edge. Redlands claimed the next game and recorded an 11-9 score in the tiebreaker to capture the doubles point.

HOW IT HAPPENED - SINGLES:

• In the No. 4 position, Chen defeated Sambathkumar, 6-0, in the opening set. Trailing 3-2 in the second set, Chen won four games in a row to take the match and notch MIT's first point of the day.
• Sophia Yang gave the Engineers a 2-1 lead following her 6-1, 6-0 victory over Truong in the No. 5 spot.
• Rayna Li defeated Eve Laurent, 6-0, in the first set at No. 6 singles. Li then battled back from a 4-0 deficit to win the second set, 6-4.
• In the No. 3 slot, Reynoso won back-to-back games to go up 4-2, but Driscoll claimed the next two to tie the opening set. However, Reynoso went on to take the 6-4 win. In the second set, Driscoll inched out to a 3-1 lead, but both players traded games until Driscoll produced back-to-back victories for a 6-3 result. Driscoll carried the momentum into the third set as she cruised to a 6-0 win, clinching the match for the Engineers.
• Whelan jumped out to 4-0 lead in the No. 2 position, but Zeng won next three games. Whelan, however, took the next two to win the set, 6-3. Tied at 3-3 in the second set, Zeng claimed the next two games, but Whelan evened the frame at 5-5. Zeng responded with back-to-back victories to force a third set. In the final frame, Zeng built a 3-1 lead, however, Whelan picked up the next two games. Zeng replied with three consecutive wins to notch a 6-3 score.
• Trailing 4-1 to Deng at the top spot, Saina Deshpande battled back to come within 5-4 but Deng took the 6-4 win. In a tightly played second set, Deshpande generated back-to-back wins to take a 6-5 edge. Deng forced the tiebreaker which Deshpande won, 7-3. Using the super tiebreaker to determine the match, Deng defeated Deshpande, 10-4.

UP NEXT:

• MIT will visit No. 31 Caltech for a 6:00 PM ET (3:00 PM PT) match on Tuesday, March 24.

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