Lyons snap Wellesley's 47-match NEWMAC winning streak, post 7-2 win

NORTON, MA- Junior Sarah Geocaris (Newport Beach, CA/Sage Hill School) swept her singles match over a nationally-ranked foe from nationally-ranked Wellesley College on Tuesday at the Clark Tennis Courts, clinching the Wheaton College women's tennis team's 7-2 victory against the five-time defending New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament champion and snapping the Blue's 47-match league winning streak.

Wheaton, which is ranked 12th in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast poll, had been the last team to down the Blue, picking up a 5-3 victory on October 25, 2003, in the first round of the NEWMAC Tournament. The Lyons improved to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the league. Now 2-1 and 2-1, Wellesley is ranked 20th nationally and sixth in the region, as its conference winning streak had encompassed both regular season and postseason matches.

The Lyons rushed out to a 3-0 lead during doubles play, as the regionally-ranked duo of Geocaris and junior Catherine Teague (Manchester, NH/Central) highlighted action by blanking Wellesley's nationally-ranked combo of senior Mohona Siddique (Chevy Chase, MD/Sidwell Friends School) and junior Jacqueline Shen (Calgary, Alberta/Queen Elizabeth). The Lyon tandem, which is 11th in the ITA's regional poll, knocked off the Blue pairing, which is ranked 25th in the nation, 8-0 in the first position.

Senior captain Katherine Knies (Purdys, NY/North Salem) and sophomore Allesandra DiOrio (Cumberland, RI/Lincoln School) notched an 8-2 victory in the second slot, while junior Ellen Van Faasen (Manchester, MA/Manchester Essex Regional) and sophomore Rosalyn Chesky (South Hadley, MA/Wilbraham & Monson Academy) won 8-5 at three. The Lyon pair held on to down Wellesley senior Meghan Stubblebine (Cumming, GA/Bishop Canevin) and sophomore Stephanie Chu (Hilo, HI/Hilo).

A 6-1, 6-3 victory from Chesky in the sixth singles position gave Wheaton its fourth point, but the Blue countered with straight-set triumphs by Shen and Stubblebine in the third and fourth slots, respectively, to make it 4-2.

However, Geocaris, the 22nd-ranked singles player in the Northeast, swept past Watanabe, the 35th-ranked player in all of Division III, by a 6-4, 6-3 count in first singles to clinch the team victory for the Lyons. Teague, the region's 15th-ranked player, notched a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 win against Siddique at number two, and Knies completed the match with a 6-7, 6-1, 6-3 victory in the fifth position over junior Nathalie Herman (San Francisco, CA/International).

Wheaton hits the road for a NEWMAC match at Smith College on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.