Colby College's women's tennis team began its fall season this past weekend at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's New England Small College Championships (ITA's) at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass.

Colby sent two players, Katie Brezinski '11 and captain Katie Muto '11, to compete in one of the most prestigious tournaments in all of college tennis.

The two seniors competed in singles and doubles, winning three matches overall.

In doubles action, Muto and Brezinski faced off against Destance Ringler and Anitra Klocwzewiak of UMass Boston. Muto and Brezinski, despite having no experience as doubles partners, won handily by a score of 8-0.

In the second round, Colby ran into the second-seeded team: Natasha Brown and Laura Danzig of Amherst College. Amherst prevailed, 8-1.

Muto, Colby's number one singles player, faced off against Curry College's Megan Mulrooney in the first round. Muto won the first set, 6-3, before running away with the second set, 6-0. Muto then squared off against ninth-seeded Laken King of Amherst, falling 3-6, 2-6 in the second round.

Brezinski, who saw most of her time at fourth singles last spring, earned a first round walkover against a Wesleyan player before facing fourth-seeded Jordan Baker of Amherst. Baker, a first-year member of an Amherst team that finished last season as the third-ranked team in the nation, prevailed over Brezinski 6-0, 6-1 and went on to win the tournament.

On what it means to be selected for ITA's, Brezinski said "this tournament is definitely the best of the best from all of the New England schools, so it's really inspiring in that it makes me want to get better to really be able to put myself up there with them. Being selected to go is definitely an honor."

Despite running into three tough Amherst teams in the second round, Coach Doanh Wang knows that the competition is ultimately good for Colby as they prepare for the spring season in which they could face five of the top fifteen teams in the nation. The New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) is the hotbed of Division III tennis. The good thing about the tough draw, Wang says, is that Muto and Brezinski "got a good look at the level of competition that CWT will be facing this year."

Colby's women's tennis team has a few weeks off before traveling to Mass. during fall break to take on four non-conference opponents. The Mules will take on Wellesley, Babson, Wheaton, and Simmons to finish their fall season. A select few from the men's team will compete at ITA's this coming weekend at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass.

Wang says that he sets the bar high for his players but "it is up to [the players] to reach the bar. That has always been my hope."

Brezinski shared this sentiment: "With three good freshmen joining us, we are continuing to build and I think that we get stronger every practice and every match we play. The competitive drive of our team is ridiculous."

Brezinski added later, "we are definitely a cohesive group and although tennis can be an individual sport, we really are doing well maintaining a team identity - the ultimate goal will be to make the NESCAC tourney." The difference with this team from past years is that we all truly believe that we can get there-and as a senior, there would be no better way to finish off my tennis career at Colby."