Bates Women's tennis sweeps past Smith, Mt. Holyoke and Wheaton

Suzanne Elfman was a combined 5-1 in singles and doubles matches as Bates went 3-0 against Smith, Mount Holyoke and Wheaton March 2-3, 2018 in South Hadley, Mass. (File photo by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- The Bates women's tennis team completed a weekend sweep of three NEWMAC teams Saturday at Mount Holyoke College, defeating both Mt. Holyoke and Wheaton (Mass.) by 6-3 scores following a 9-0 win over Smith College on Friday night.

The Bobcats (5-1) have won four matches in a row heading into next Saturday's home opener and NESCAC opener against Hamilton.

Bates earned its wins this weekend without the services of junior Bella Stone (Concord, Mass.), the Bobcats' usual No. 2 singles player, or sophomore Isabelle Rovinski (New York, N.Y.), who is out for the season with injury. Senior captain Maisie Silverman (Brunswick, Maine), the Bobcats' No. 1 singles player, retired from her singles match against Mt. Holyoke and didn't return against Wheaton.

Bates 9, Smith 0 (BOX)
Bates easily swept doubles play against the Pioneers (1-6), with sophomore Lauren Hernandez (Chester, N.J.) and first-year Hannah Sweeney (Franklin, Mass.) winning 8-2 at No. 1 doubles, Silverman and Londoner winning 8-1 at No. 2, and first-year Haley Washington (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and sophomore Suzanne Elfman (Longmeadow, Mass.) posting an 8-1 victory at No. 3.

Sweeney played first singles for the Bobcats for the first time and won 6-0, 6-1. The first four singles matches went similarly, with Elfman winning 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2, Hernandez winning 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3, Londoner winning 6-2, 6-1 at No.4 and Washington shutting out her opponent at No. 5. At No. 6 singles, junior Morgan Woods (Sarasota, Fla.) defeated Kara Van Allen 7-5, 6-4 to complete Bates' first 9-0 victory of the year.

Bates 6, Mt. Holyoke 3 (BOX)
Bates took a 2-1 lead into singles play against the host Lyons (3-4), with Hernandez and Sweeney winning 8-2 and Washington and Elfman winning by the same score at No. 3. Silverman and Londoner fell 8-4 at second doubles.

Silverman retired from her first singles match, ceding the point to Ching-Ching Huang. Elfman fell at third singles, but the Bobcats won by three points on the strength of straight-set singles wins by Sweeney at No. 2, Hernandez at No. 4, Londoner at No. 5 and Washington at No. 6.

Bates 6, Wheaton 3 (BOX)
A shorthanded Bates team downed a second team of Lyons (0-2) by a 6-3 score to cap the weekend.
Sweeney and Hernandez came up big in the victory, beginning with their 8-6 decision over Ines de Bracamonte and Isabelle Garvanne at No. 1 doubles. The pair then won two of the most closely contested matches in singles play, as Hernandez defeated Jodi Katz 7-6 (2), 6-4, while Sweeney outlasted de Bracamonte in the only three-setter, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.

Elfman won 6-4, 7-5 at No. 2 singles over Garvanne, while Washington defeated Connor O'Keefe 7-5, 6-1 at No. 4 singles.