Engineers Tennis Pair Reaches Quarterfinals at NEWITT

Amherst, Mass. – Katie O'Neal and Melissa Diskin reached the quarterfinals at the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament this past weekend at Amherst College. The Engineer's team competed in the Chris Davis B Flight of the tournament, which pits teams of two from different schools against each other in a bracket-style tournament.

The pairs square off in a doubles match before breaking up and playing individual single matches, with three points total at stake and two needed to advance in the draw.

O'Neal and Diskin were the #2 ranked squad sent by MIT to the tournament, and the first competing in the B Flight. They swept a pair from Suffolk University in the opening round of 32 and then edged out a 2-1 victory over New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) rivals Springfield College.

The MIT team was seeded fifth overall in the B Flight, but were upset in the quarters by Amherst College's fifth team of Jennifer Newman and Mimi Bell. The duo from Amherst joined a twosome from Wheaton College in the semi-finals as two of the final four in the B Division were unranked pairs.

In the Gail Smith A Flight, the MIT top duo of Lauren Quisenberry and Julia Hsu were upset in the first round. The pair, ranked fifth in the pre-match seedings, were upended 3-0 by Kathleen Elkins and Caroline Capute, the third team from Williams College. The freshman tandem went on to sweep entrants from Clark and defeat a pair from Bowdoin College 2-1 in the A Flight first round consolation bracket.

MIT's third team, also entrants in B Flight competition, consisted of junior Hillary Jenny and senior Jenny Dohlman. Though they were not able to beat the #1 team from Mount Holyoke in the competition, Dohlman and Jenny defeated the Lyons' second team entrant 2-1 in the first round of B Flight consolation.

The women's tennis team will next be in action this coming weekend when it travels to Smith College for the NEWMAC Championship tennis tournament.