Tennis falls short in spring season opener against Bates College

Despite two hard-fought wins in singles play, the Lyons fell 7-2 to Bates College in their spring schedule opener at home on Saturday. Mount Holyoke slips to 6-7 overall with the loss, while the Bobcats improve to 4-1 for the season.

In the first flight of doubles action, Mount Holyoke saw strong efforts from captains AnnElizabeth Konkel ’14 and Eman Malik ’14, but Bobcats junior Elena Mandzhukova and freshman Elizabeth Erbafina were able to power through for an 8-5 win. The second and third flights saw Bates victories of 8-2 and 8-4 respectively as the Bobcats swept doubles play.

In singles play, Sarah Anischik ’15 and Malik each posted victories. Senior captain Malik snagged a 6-1, 6-1 win against Bates sophomore Eleanor Hough. Anischik opened against freshman Kate Rosenthal with a 7-5 win in the fourth flight. After falling 6-7 (5-7) in the second set, Anischik fought her way back to win the super tiebreaker 10-8. In spite of efforts from Mira Murali ’17, Margaux Holloschutz ’16, Maya Sayarath ’14, and Konkel the Bobcats posted four singles victories as well.

Bates returns to action Sunday at 9 a.m., hosting Hamilton College. The Lyons will now wait nearly a month until their next match against Colby-Sawyer on March 29 at 10:30 a.m. The match will be played on neutral ground at Smith College.