The Mustangs collected their first GNAC win in three years with an 8-1 win over Albertus Magnus earlier this year, and earned the sixth seed in the tournament with a 1-5 conference record (1-9 overall). They will travel to the third seeded Rams (7-6, 4-2 GNAC).
For Mount Ida, reaching the conference tournament was the goal set forth at the beginning of the season by first year head coach Isaac Stahl.
"It's great to have all of their hard work rewarded this way," Stahl said of his young team, many of whom came in last season with little tennis experience and saw their two years of effort pay off. "I think there was a lot of excitement and enthusiasm from the victory over Albertus Magnus, and that carries over to our confidence moving forward."
The Mustangs made back-to-back trips to the GNAC tournament in 2010 and 2011, reaching the semifinals in just their second season as a varsity program. This season, they will rely on freshmen Rebecca Levy (Plymouth, Mass.) and Olivia Budney (Webster, Mass.), who each have a pair of singles wins this year , as well as two wins as a doubles partnership at the top of the lineup.
Liz Olszewski (Granville, Mass.), Alicia Ritchie (Andover, Conn.), and Rose Schneider (Lowell, Mass.) also picked up singles wins, while Victoria Messinger () has been a part of two doubles teams to earn points for the Mustangs this year.
After falling to Simmons early in the year, Suffolk ripped off four straight GNAC victories, including a 9-0 win at Mount Ida, before falling in their conference finale at home to Johnson & Wales. The Ram's final tune-up before the tournament saw them beat Emerson 9-0, with sophomore Aidiana Sagyndykova (Almaty, Kazakhstan) improving to 11-1 on the year in singles play at the number one spot.
Sagyndykova, who is 6-0 in conference singles play, and Adrianna Garrett (Plymouth, Mass.) are 10-2 for the Rams at the first doubles position, while Rebecca Eshoo (Farmington, Conn.) has done well at third singles, with an 8-4 record, including a 5-1 GNAC mark.
"We've worked on a lot throughout the season, and it's going to require these girls to put it all together and play their best tennis in order to beat Suffolk," said Stahl.
Wednesday evening's match between the Mustangs and Rams will be played at Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School.