MEDFORD, Mass. – May 11, 2018 – The Colby-Sawyer women's tennis team defeated Johnson & Wales, 5-0, in Friday's NCAA Tournament First Round held at Tufts University.
BRACKET
The Chargers improve to 17-5 and advance to the NCAA Second Round for the third year in a row. Colby-Sawyer will face #11 MIT, which defeated John Jay 5-0, on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The match will take place at the Woburn Racquet Club as poor weather is in the forecast. Johnson & Wales, a future Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) foe, ends its season with a 15-2 record, with both losses coming to Colby-Sawyer.
The women's tennis team becomes the second Colby-Sawyer program to record three wins in the NCAA Tournament. The women's volleyball team won games in 1999, 2003 and 2005.
The Chargers got off to an important start by sweeping all three doubles matches in convincing fashion. The No. 3 duo of junior
Maddy Gemerek (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) and senior
Lauren Blanchard (Agawam, Mass.) put the Chargers on the board first with an 8-0 victory over Madison Hernandez and Katherine Ledesma. Senior
Evelyn Miller (Smithfield, R.I.) and junior
Aislinn O'Connor (New Fairfield, Conn.) earned an 8-2 win over Claire Parry and Thapenga Flores at No. 2. The Chargers' top tandem of senior
Ashley Woodside (Hampden, Maine) and freshman
Yashu Yang (Kunming City, China) gave Colby-Sawyer the 3-0 lead with an 8-3 triumph over Nina Cohen and Delaney Macchirole.
Yang put Colby-Sawyer in front 4-0 with an impressive 6-1, 6-0 victory over Taylor Klein at the second singles flight.
Woodside then came away with a record setting win to secure the victory for the Chargers. She defeated Cohen 6-2, 6-2 at the top flight to send Colby-Sawyer to the second round for the third time. Also with the win, Woodside tied Ashlyn Ramsay '16 in career victories with 128. Woodside became the all-time leader in singles wins with 58 and is second in doubles wins with 70. She also set single-season records with 22 doubles wins and 39 total wins.
Miller, O'Connor and Gemerek were all leading, after winning the first set, when the match was decided.
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Colby-Sawyer 5, Johnson & Wales 0
May 11, 2018 at Medford, Mass. (Voute Courts)
| Singles competition |
| 1. Ashley Woodside (CSCW1718) def. Nina Cohen (JWUWT) 6-2, 6-2 |
| 2. Yashu Yang (CSCW1718) def. Taylor Klein (JWUWT) 6-1, 6-0 |
| 3. Evelyn Miller (CSCW1718) vs. Claire Parry (JWUWT) 7-6 (7-2), 1-0, unfinished |
| 4. Aislinn O'Connor (CSCW1718) vs. Lauren Torre (JWUWT) 6-1, 3-4, unfinished |
| 5. Maddy Gemerek (CSCW1718) vs. Delaney Macchirole (JWUWT) 6-4, 0-1, unfinished |
| 6. Lauren Blanchard (CSCW1718) vs. Madison Hernandez (JWUWT) 0-6, 3-3, unfinished |
| Match Notes |
| Johnson & Wales 15-2 |
| Colby-Sawyer 17-5 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (2,1) |
| NCAA Championship 1st Round Match |
| T-2:00 A-100 |
