The Amherst women’s tennis team traveled to California this past week for their annual spring break trip. Over the course of the week, the purple and white played five matches, finishing with a 2-3 record.

On Monday, March 13, seventh-ranked Amherst fell to No. 6 Pomona-Pitzer College by a score of 7-2 in Claremont, California. The purple and white’s two wins came from Camille Smukler ’20 and Camilla Trapness ’19 in singles play. Smukler defeated Caroline Casper in the first position 6-1, 6-3, while Trapness won 2-6, 6-4, 10-6 on the fourth court. Pomona-Pitzer swept all three doubles matches, beating the pair of Smukler and fellow first-year Jen Chen in the first position, Avery Wagman ’18/Anya Ivenitsky ’20 on court two and Kelly Yang ’19/Joanna Booth ’19 in the third spot.

The next day, the purple and white suffered a close, 5-4 loss to 11th-ranked Washington University. Of the six singles matches, Amherst took three. Chen (6-3, 7-6 (9-7)), Ivenitsky (7-6 (7-5), 6-1) and senior captain Megan Adamo (6-1, 7-6 (7-5)) earned the purple and white’s wins in singles action, while the doubles team of Chen/Smukler secured Amherst’s fourth victory, defeating Washington’s Ho/Griffith 9-7. However, the four wins were not enough and Washington came out on top.

On Wednesday, Amherst lost 6-3 to No. 12 Carnegie Mellon to drop to 0-3 on the season. In doubles play, the Wagman/Ivenitsky duo was the sole pairing to pull out a win, dominating by a score of 8-2. Chen continued her strong play on the week, beating Cori Sidelle 6-4, 6-0 on the second court. Adamo also notched another victory, prevailing in her match on the fifth court 6-3, 6-3. However, Smukler, Ivenitsky and Trapness were defeated 7-5, 7-5; 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; and 6-4, 6-2, respectively.

The purple and white found their first win on Thursday, annihilating University of Redlands 8-1. Amherst swept all six singles matches, with Smulker, Chen, Ivenitsky, Trapness, Adamo and Wagman logging wins on courts one through six, respectively. In the doubles matches, Wagman/Ivenitsky earned an 8-2 win on the second court and the senior duo of Claire Carpenter and Adamo pulled out a 9-7 victory. With the win, Amherst improved to 1-3.

Friday marked Amherst’s final match in California, with the eleventh-ranked purple and white beating Sewanee, 6-3. The doubles teams came out strong, earning victories on all three courts. Chen/Smukler posted an 8-3 win on court one, Wagman/Ivenitsky prevailed on the second court 8-6 andCarpenter/Adamo notched an 8-4 victory on the third court. Smukler (1-6, 6-3, 6-2), Chen (6-3, 6-3) and Wagman (6-3, 6-2) secured Amherst’s last three victories of the day on courts one, two and six.

The purple and white ended their spring break trip strong, finishing the week at 2-3 overall. The team next plays Tuesday, April 4, at 4 p.m., when the team will open conference play on the road against Connecticut College.