The Amherst women’s tennis team opened its 2016-2017 season at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this weekend, sending three doubles pairs and five individual competitors to the Intercollegiate College Association (ITA) Regional Championship tournament.

Veteran doubles player and second team All-NESCAC selection Vickie Ip ’18 took the court with first-year Anya Ivenitsky as the fifth-seeded duo in the 32-team doubles pool. The women took their first match handily, with an 8-1 win over Wellesley but fell in the second round to a Williams pair in the round of 16.

Captains Jackie Calla ’17 and Avery Wagman ’18 led the purple and white in doubles action, winning three matches in a row to take them to the semifinal match. Their second matchup en route to their impressive finish was a victory over first-year teammates Jen Chen and Camille Smukler. Before falling to Calla and Wagman, the first-year duo earned their first collegiate win with an 8-2 win over a pair from Colby.

In singles play, all five purple and white players earned victories in the first round of the tournament. However, Calla, Wagman and Camilla Trapness ’19 all suffered losses in their second-round of singles action, all ultimately falling to Williams competitors.

Smukler continued to impress in singles play as she notched victories against 16th-seeded Linda Shin of Williams and Middlebury’s Molly Paradies before falling to individual runner-up Eunice Chong of Wesleyan.

Ip advanced the furthest in singles play for the purple and white as she won four matches to place her in the final four, where she dropped her first singles match of the day to eventual champion Raventos. Ip began tournament play with a sweep of Kristy Garcia of University of Massachusetts Boston, as well as a victory over Wesleyan’s Nicole McCann in the second round. Ip logged two more wins over seeded opponents before being eliminated, besting Hannah Atkinson of Middlebury 6-4, 6-2 in the third round and Christina Puccinelli of Middlebury in the round of eight.

Overall, this was an impressive opening weekend for the 2015-2016 national runner-up Amherst squad. Look for the purple and white to take the court next against NESCAC rival Williams in its dual meet on Oct. 8.