The Mount Ida College women's tennis team hosted 2009 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) defending champion Simmons College losing 9-0 on Wednesday afternoon in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs fall to 2-3 overall, 1-1 in conference competition.
The Mustangs first doubles of freshman Emilie Cloutier (Lewiston, ME/Lewiston) and senior captain Jessica Lindquist (Killingworth, CT/Haddam-Killingworth) 8-3. Number two doubles for the Mustangs were sophomore Amy Warner (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) and freshman Veronica Williams (Tyngsboro, MA/Auburn) who were overpowered by Shark junior's Maggie Taylor (Yarmouth, ME/Yarmouth) and Athena Lynch (Andover, MA/Andover) losing 8-0. The number three team of sophomore Melissa Smith (Warren, CT/Wamogo Regional) and freshman Nanouma Joachim (Lynn, MA/Classical) pulled close at 2-3 but then lost the next five games in a row falling 8-2.
All players from #2-5 for Mount Ida gave everything they had and played well but were outplayed by Simmons. Joachim played a competitive match but was overpowered by her opponent and lost 6-2, 6-3.
Mount Ida undefeated Cloutier lost the first set quickly 6-0 but made some strategic adjustments against a talented player in Teague and captured Mount Ida first set against the GNAC champ 7-5.
For fear of darkness both players played a 10 point tiebreaker with Cloutier coming up just short at 10-4. It was a terrific match that featured hard hitting ground strokes and aggressive net play.
"I was proud that we gave 100% from the first point to the last point and thought everyone played well today," said Nestel. "We see that we have a ways to go to compete for a GNAC title and NCAA berth but both are possible."
Mount Ida will travel to hosting GNAC rival Emerson College Saturday afternoon starting at 3:30 p.m. and will come back home Sunday for homecoming weekend to host Anna Maria College at 11:00 p.m.