The third-ranked Amherst women’s tennis team opened its spring season with a dual match 9-0 sweep of 17th-ranked MIT.

The Jeffs’ no. 1 doubles team, seniors Gabby Devlin and Jordan Brewer, coasted to an 8-1 victory over MIT seniors Lauren Quisenberry and Julia Hsu. On the no. 2 court, two more seniors, Jen Newman and Zoe Pangalos, earned a 9-8 (4) tiebreak victory over the Engineers’ duo of Elysa Kohrs and Victoria Tam.

“Jen and Zoe went down in their match 3-7 and had to win four straight games to stay in; heroically they won five straight to go up 8-7. MIT then tied the score at 8 all and forced a tie-breaker,” said head coach Jackie Bagwell. “I feel our team’s body language went south after a few mistakes, and our confidence went down. Once they let their mistakes go and stayed in the present, they got back in the driver’s seat.”

In the no. 3 doubles match, sophomore Sarah Monteagudo and junior Safi Aly knocked off the MIT team of Michelle Dutt and Krystal Lai, 8-6.

The Jeffs dropped just two sets in their sweep of the singles matches. On the no. 1 court, Brewer defeated Quisenberry 6-2, 7-5. After a 6-2 first set victory, Devlin dropped the second to Kohrs, 3-6, but she rallied and took the final set 6-4 to win in the no. 2 spot. On the no. 3 court, Newman handled Wendi Kong in two sets, 6-1, 6-2.

Sue Ghosh ’16 and Pangalos also had little trouble, playing in the no. 4 and no. 5 courts, respectively. Ghosh beat Tam 6-2, 6-2, and Pangalos defeated junior Vynnie Kong, 6-3, 6-2. In the No. 6 spot, Monteagudo lost the first set to Lai, but took the second set and third set tiebreaker decisively to earn a 4-6, 6-2, 10-5 victory.

“Both Gabby and Monte put tremendous pressure on themselves which often makes them play tight,” Bagwell said. “Coach Soyster, my assistant, came to the rescue asking both of them to quit hitting hundred dollar shots when fifty dollar shots would do. Problem solved.”

The Jeffs return to action March 17 against 10th-ranked Pomona-Pitzer, when they open a week long trip to California. The trip will also feature matches against Cal State Fullerton, Concordia, Claremont Mudd-Scripps and Whittier.