Box Score
Holland, MI – In a match that was played to decision, the Oberlin College women's tennis team did exactly what they needed to do – winning all three doubles points – en route to a 5-0 blanking of Hope College on Saturday morning.
The Flying Dutch, who entered the match ranked No. 15 in the region, did not have enough firepower to keep pace with the Yeowomen who are ranked No. 30 in the country and No. 6 in the region.
The region's fourth ranked doubles pairing of
Farah Leclercq and
Grace Porter made short work of Carli Capestany and Leah LaBarge, earning an 8-2 win at No. 1.
Brenna Sheldon and
Preeya Shah bested Anna Gracia and Melissa Bieri 8-6 at No. 2, while the rookie tandem of
Ariana Abayomi and
Erin Johnson also earned an 8-6 win at No. 3 to complete the sweep.
“Hope is a very good team and gave us all we could handle,” Head Coach
Constantine Ananiadis said. “But to win all three doubles was simply huge and gave us a huge lift heading into singles play.
The two remaining points needed to win the match came courtesy of Leclercq at No. 1 and Sheldon at No. 2. Leclercq bested Capestany 6-3, 6-0 and Sheldon would clinch the match with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Casey Baxter.
The other four remaining singles matches were left unfinished. Porter dropped her first set at No. 3 against Gracia 3-6, but won the second 6-3. At No. 5 Abayomi also won her first set against Bier 6-3.
“They played a very aggressive style of tennis that you don't see very often,” Ananiadis added. “In singles, we didn't do a very good job getting out of the blocks and let them use that aggressiveness to get back into the match. Thankfully, Farah and Brenna found a way to win their first sets and cruise in the second to seal it for us. This was a great weekend for our team, winning three matches against three quality opponents in less than 30 hours is really impressive.”
Oberlin improved to 13-4 overall and has now won eight in a row. The team returns to action on Wednesday afternoon at the College of Wooster. Doubles play will begin at 4:30 p.m.
