MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury College women’s tennis team, ranked No. 3 in NCAA Division III in the most recent poll, won twice at home this past weekend, including a 6-3 win over No. 6 Wesleyan on Sunday. The Panthers improved to 11-3, 7-0 in NESCAC play with their sixth and seventh straight victories. They will host No. 12 Amherst at 1 p.m. this Saturday to conclude their regular season.
This past Sunday, Wesleyan (10-3, 4-3 NESCAC) won two of three doubles matches. At No. 2 Middlebury’s Kaysee Orozco and Catherine Blazye eased by Wesleyan’s Dasha Dubinsky and Julia Kim, 8-2, but at No. 1 the Cardinal team of Eudice Chong and Victoria Yu topped Katherine Hughes and Skylar Schossberger, 8-2, and at No. 3 Wesleyan’s Helen Klass-Warch and Nicole McCann defeated Alexandra Fields and Christina Puccinelli, 8-3.
The Panthers answered by claiming five of the six singles points. Blazye tied the match at 2-2 with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Klass-Warch at No. 4. Made Stow gave the hosts a 3-2 lead with a 6-1, 6-1 triumph over Dubinsky in the sixth slot. The Cardinals tied the match when Chong, the defending D-III singles champion, posted a 6-3, 6-1 win over Fields at No. 1.
The Panthers then reeled off three straight-set wins. Puccinelli defeated Yu, 6-3 and 6-3 at No. 2; Molly Paradies clinched the match with a 7-5, 6-0 victory against McCann at No. 5; and at No. 3 Heather Boehm earned a 7-5, 6-0 win over Aashli Budhiraja.
On Saturday, the Panthers dismissed league foe Trinity, 9-0. The Bantams fell to 6-6, 1-4 in league play. Middlebury did not drop a set in the nine individual matches.