KRISTEN SUZDA The Wesleyan women’s tennis team pulled off a big upset against Division I Fairfield Friday at home.

Fairfield Can’t Handle Division III Cardinals By Emily Allyn Barth Contributing Writer

Playing with nothing to lose, the Wesleyan women’s tennis team scored a dramatic upset Friday when they toppled favored Fairfield 5-4 in a match that bodes well for the entire season.

Las Vegas odds would have said Fairfield, a Division I school, would wipe out Wesleyan as they did last season, but the Cardinal women beat the odds for the win.

"Fairfield killed us last year," said senior team captain Claudia Makadon. "We didn’t win any singles matches against them, so [winning half of the singles matches] is really good for us."

Last year, after losing each of the six singles matches. the team’s expectations were low. This year, however, at the end of the singles matches, the score was 3-3, showing that Wesleyan was at least evenly matched and was no longer dominated by Fairfield.

With the teams tied 3-3, it became obvious that the match’s outcome would come down to the three doubles contests.

At this point, the Cardinals could have just thrown in the towel. Instead, Wesleyan not only won two of the three doubles matches, it won a 9-8 tie-breaker en-route to the incredible victory.

According to Head Coach Donald Long, this tie-breaker turned out to be the big match of the day.

No coach wants to believe his team can’t win, but Long knew the Wesleyan women faced a tough challenge. When promising frosh Alison Rovner lost a match in a third set tie-breaker, Long admitted to having his doubts.

"I thought we were in trouble when we lost the number four singles. Alison played really well, she was within a point of winning," Long said. The Cardinals bounced back with singles wins by number six player Nicki Sumorock ’01, number five Makadon, and number three Tarsah Dale ’02.

Dale said she felt she played better against Division I Fairfield then she had against Division III Trinity.

"The girl I played [from Fairfield] was a better player, she hit with more pace. It helped me. I usually play better against people who hit harder," Dale said.

Even the women who didn’t win felt they played up to their potential.

"I played as well as I could. [My opponent] was good. She beat me, I didn’t beat myself," said Stacia Poulos ’01.

Team captain Makadon pointed out that the Cardinals were not intimidated playing the Division I team, even after last year’s results. They just relaxed and set out on the court to play their best tennis.

"It’s better because there’s not as much pressure as there is playing Amherst or Williams. Not as much is expected when you’re playing a Division I team."

The members of the Wesleyan team exceeded their own expectations. "The whole team knew it was going to be a tough match," Poulos said. "They’re Division I so I think we all did really well."