Smith College Tennis: NEWMAC

The NEWMAC conference championship took place at Smith College on October 23 and 24. Wheaton College defeated Wellesley in an exciting finals match. Smith College did not qualify for the event but they were; never the less, very much involved. The entire Smith College Tennis Team ran the event announcing the line-ups, selecting the pre-game music, cleaning courts after the rain, updating scores, posting results, watching for the player-of-the-tournament and voting on the team with the best sportsmanship. They gave their time and energy unselfishly and served as a role model of “servant leadership” by helping make the tournament special for the participants. Coach Chris Davis said “the Smith team understands the importance of giving back to the sport they love. They gave of their time with class and enthusiasm and I am proud of the their willingness to serve.” One team member was heard saying, at the awards ceremony: “let’s be in the event this coming fall!” The team promises to work together throughout the winter and will, no doubt, return to spring play stronger than ever.

In the meantime, you will find the tennis team engaged in fund raising and community service events throughout the winter months. This Friday (Oct 29) marks the beginning for the second session of the Quick Start for kids. The team members organize and teach the three week event that meets on Fridays at 5:45pm. Sign up will be open until Friday morning of the event.

Check back often to learn of more tennis events of the Smith and surrounding communities.

Halloween is just around the corner and with it comes the conference championship and the end of the fall tennis season at Smith.

Smith had a great start in the conference tournament by beating MHC and moving to the semi-finals. They could not hold on bowing to Wheaton on the second day. Wheaton eventually won the conference title.

(From the NEWMAC website)
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.
In the first semifinal, Smith College looked to upend regular-season conference winner Wheaton College. Coming off a quarterfinal match that ended late the prior evening and missing stars Holly Reich and Isabel Pal, the Pioneers were unable to match the Lyons on the court as they had done during the season.

Smith Downs Mount Holyoke, 5-3

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - MIT played host to the 2009 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Tennis Championship. The two-day event began with quarterfinal matches as the #6 seed Engineers of MIT took on the #3 Beavers of Babson College and the #5 Lyons of Mount Holyoke College challenged the #4 Pioneers of Smith College. After the day was done, the Engineers and Pioneers were victorious, and the Beavers and Lyons were eliminated.

In the second quarterfinal, Smith and Mount Holyoke played into the evening for the final spot at the semifinals. In doubles play, the #3 match featured Smith's Allyson Hawkins and Margaret Steiner battling Mount Holyoke's Sarah London and Carly Peltier to a 7-7 tie in the eight-game pro-set. Hawkins and Steiner held strong in the final two games to win [9-7] and together with their teammates, completed a sweep of doubles action to put the Pioneers up 3-0.

With the deficit, Mount Holyoke would need to win five of the six singles matches to rally and win. The Lyons' top two players, Nahree Han and Natalie Hsaing put their team in the mix by picking up two-set victories. In the #3 singles, Smith's Clair Oblamski took down Sarah Moore [6-1, 6-2] to advance the score to 4-2 and put the Pioneers in position for the killing blow.

At the #4 position, senior Lyon Sarah London kept the match alive with a win over Alanna Dick [6-2, 7-5] narrowing the lead to 4-3 and giving the #5 and #6 matches a chance to hit the courts. It was the #5 match that was the ultimate decider, as Smith's Hawkins was able to put away My-Linh Nguyen for the final point in the Pioneer's 5 3 victory