Colby women’s tennis was off to a promising start after the team’s spring break trip to Orlando, Fla. Logging a 5-4 win vs. SUNY New Paltz, a 5-4 loss vs. Colorado College, an 8-1 win vs. the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh and a 6-3 loss vs. Augustana, the team came out 2-2 at the end of the week.

After graduating five players at the end of last year, Colby’s team is considered to be quite young. However, head coach Doanh Wang is excited to see who will step up and fill the alumnae’s shoes during the 2011 season. “Senior captain Katie Muto, along with fellow seniors Katie Brezinski and Anna Zieba, bring four years of experience to a team that is relatively young. We have one junior: Kathryn Vergeyle; four sophomores: Sally Holmes, Mckenzie Love, Sarah Wiener and Alex McAuliff; and four first-years: Tess Perese, Victoria Abel, Lucy O'Keeffe and Maggie Sutherland,” he explained.

Despite her relative inexperience, Perese proved her strength while in Florida as she stepped up in a critical moment to win the tie-breaking match vs. SUNY New Paltz, In the process, she gave Colby its first win of the week.

After returning to campus, the team faced two disappointing New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) losses. The first match took place at fifth-ranked Tufts and ended in a 9-0 loss for the Mules. Tufts’ first singles player, Julia Browne, is the reigning Division III national champion in singles, and defeated Colby’s Muto, 6-0, 6-1.

The second loss of the weekend—a match against Trinity, and a very winnable match according to Coach Wang—resulted in an 8-1 loss. Brezinski defeated Arielle Leben, 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 for the lone Colby point. Vergeyle and Wiener fought hard at first doubles (playing up due to an injury to Muto), falling 9-7.

However, the women are only at the beginning of their season. The team has been working hard in practice to get ready for the upcoming NESCAC matches; “the NESCAC is loaded with quality teams and is arguably the premier Division III conference in the country,” said Coach Wang.

The members of Colby’s women’s tennis team have a big week of NESCAC matches ahead of them: they face Bates College on Wednesday, and Wesleyan University and Connecticut College this weekend. “We have had success against all these teams in the past,” coach Wang said. “I am looking forward to competitive matches.”