Caltech Women’s Tennis Downs #27 Mary Washington

The Caltech women’s tennis team, ranked No. 32 in NCAA Division III, took down No. 27 University of Mary Washington with outstanding singles play in a 5-2 victory, the squad’s second win in a row.

The Beavers looked to set the tone quickly as the rookie duo of Aoi Kunimoto (San Diego / Rancho Bernardo) and Polaris Hayes (Robbinsville, N.J. / The Pennington School) raced to a 6-0 doubles set win on Court 3. However, the Eagles reclaimed control with wins in the other two doubles matches to claim a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

Eager to her team back in it, first-year Carissa Gerung (Portland, Ore. / Jesuit) rebounded from her doubles result with an unblemished 6-0, 6-0 rout in #4 Singles, while Hannah Ramsperger (Zürich / Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zürich) took control of #3 singles and posted a matching 6-0, 6-0 win to put Caltech up 2-1 in the match.

Caltech kept all the momentum as sophomore Anna Szczuka (Scotch Plains, NJ / Scotch-Plains Fanwood High School) picked up a match point on Court 6, winning 6-3, 6-1, and senior Yoyo Benchetrit (Toronto, Ont. / St. Clements) clinched the Beavers’ win shortly thereafter in #1 Singles with 6-4, 6-1 set scores.

Fellow senior Anika Arora (Fremont, Calif. / Mission San Jose) added the Beavers’ fifth match point, coming back from a 6-4 loss in her opening set with a 6-4 second set win, and then claiming the tiebreak with an efficient 10-3 win.

“Today was a great test against another ranked team, and I’m really pleased with our response,” said Head Coach Nyssa Peele. “I feel like everyone showed a championship mentality. If we got ahead, we stayed focused and didn’t let up. If we fell behind, we kept fighting and got back in it. That’s the approach I want us to have every time we play.”

Coach Peele and the Beavers will be back in action on their home courts next Wednesday, March 12, taking on Vassar College.