The Middlebury women's tennis team had several players fare well during the 2016 USTA/ITA New England Regional hosted by MIT. Action took place outdoors at the duPont Tennis Courts and inside the J.B. Carr Tennis Bubble.
In the main singles draw, Alexandra Fields and Christina Puccinelli advanced to the quarterfinals. Fields moved into the round of 16 with straight-set victories Friday over Babson's Yagmur Akgul (6-1, 6-0) and Tufts' Katherine Wiley (6-0, 6-3). On Saturday, fifth-seeded Fields grinded out a 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Williams' Leah Bush before falling in the quarterfinal round to second-seeded Juli Raventos of Williams by scores of 7-5, 6-2.
Puccinelli made it to the round of 16 for the second-straight year with a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Noa Dubin of Smith and a 6-0, 6-3 win versus Amarie Settiwongse of Nichols. In Saturday's action, Puccinelli battled Dora Tzeng of MIT before moving on with a narrow 7-6 (5), 7-5 victory. Puccinelli bowed out of the tournament to Amherst's Vickie Ip 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Katherine Hughes also represented Middlebury in the round of 16 with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Bowdoin's Maddie Rolph and a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Carina Chen from Wellesley. Hughes fell to Raventos by scores of 6-2, 6-0 on Saturday morning.
Molly Paradies grabbed an opening-round win (6-4, 6-3) over Tess Trinka from Bowdoin before falling in the round of 32, while Lily Bondy posted a 6-2, 6-0 victory against Gordon's Justine Hanson before bowing out in a thrilling three-set match with MIT's Lara Rakocevic (7-6 (3), 1-6, 13-11).
In doubles play, three Panther duo advanced to the quarterfinal round. Bondy and Hughes earned an 8-1 win over Joanna Kim and Margaret Anne Smith from Smith in their first-round match followed by an 8-6 triumph against Bowdoin's Pilar Giffenig and Rolph in round two. In the quarterfinal round, the fifth-seeded Bondy and Hughes were beaten by top-seeded Raventos and Linda Shin, 8-4.
Kaysee Orozco and Puccinelli won their first-round match 8-3 over Brandeis' Haley Cohen and Sophia He. The Panther pair backed that win with an 8-5 triumph over the Bowdoin pair of Trinka and Sarah Shadowens before falling in the quarterfinals to Williams' Hannah Atkinson and Chloe Henderson, 8-5.
The third tandem of Skylar Schossberger and Fields posted a 9-7 win against Andjela Stojkovic and Sarah Yan of Wellesley, as well as an 8-2 victory over the third-seeded duo of Joulia Likhanskaia and Samantha Stadler from Bowdoin. In Saturday's quarterfinal, the Amherst pair of Jackie Calla and Avery Wagman needed a tiebreaker to edge Schossberger and Fields, 9-8 (4).
The Panthers have nearly a month off from action before they host the annual Middlebury Invitational. The three-day event will take place from Friday-Sunday, October 21-23.
