BALTIMORE, Md. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's tennis team made a memorable debut in its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance this morning, defeating Allegheny College, 4-0, in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship at the Johns Hopkins University Tennis Courts.
Fresh off capturing the first Liberty League Championship in program history, the Engineers carried that momentum directly into national tournament play, dominating doubles competition before closing out the match with three convincing singles victories.
RPI quickly seized momentum in doubles play, beginning at the No. 2 position where
Kayla Wheeler and
Victoria Sarabosing earned a decisive 6-1 victory. Moments later, the Engineers secured another dominant win at No. 3 doubles as
Gauri Muliyil and
Kaaviya Kannan rolled to a 6-0 decision to put RPI on the verge of the doubles point. The clinching win came at the top spot, where
Nicole Ridenour and
Anushka Jaiswal completed the sweep with a commanding 6-1 victory.
The Engineers continued to control play in singles competition. The first singles point came from the sixth position, where Kannan delivered a flawless 6-0, 6-0 victory. Shortly after, Sarabosing added another dominant performance at No. 4 singles, earning a 6-1, 6-0 win to put the Engineers one point away from victory.
The clinching point came at No. 5 singles, where
Neha Saraswatula secured a convincing 6-0, 6-1 victory, officially sealing the historic NCAA Tournament win for the Engineers.
Several additional matches remained unfinished once the contest was decided, including strong starts from RPI throughout the lineup. Muliyil had captured the opening set at No. 2 singles, while Wheeler also led after taking the first set at No. 3 singles. Ridenour competed at the top singles position in another unfinished match as the Engineers closed out the team victory.
RPI advances to face regional host Johns Hopkins tomorrow at 9:00 am.
