Tennis was back in action on Wednesday as the Violets traveled to New Jersey to compete in two different competitions. While the men lost a tight 5-4 contest to Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, the women earned their seventh win of the season against The College of New Jersey in Ewing.

The women dominated throughout, taking five out of six singles matches and two out of three in doubles. Senior Carmen Lai had the most impressive victory of the day, defeating Brittany Reedman in straight sets 6-0, 6-0. Freshman Fleura Shiyanova was victorious in similar fashion, besting Sneha Rangu 6-1, 6-2.

Freshman Vanessa Scott had the toughest battle in singles, winning a three-set thriller against her opponent Grace Minassian 6-4, 4-6, 10-7. Meanwhile, junior Laila El Dessouki and freshman Alice McGinty were the last of the Violets’ five singles winners. The success continued into doubles, where the team of McGinty and and freshman Vanessa Scott were victorious in a competitive, 9-7 contest. Dessouki and senior captain Madeline King finish the list of winners, easily defeating Anna Prestera and Alyssa Baldi 8-3.

The men didn’t find the same success in Hoboken, but a number of Violets had successful moments on the court. The Violets had a good day in doubles action, highlighted by freshman Benedict Teoh and junior Matt DeMichiel’s 8-3 win over Stevens’ Kyle Henry and Michael Feldman. Junior Umberto Setter and freshman Shrikar Kundur also tallied a win in doubles, and Setter made it two on the day with a singles win against Charles Drake 6-3, 7-6. According to DeMichiel, the Violets felt great about competing well against a good team in Stevens.

“Stevens is a very tough top-25 team in the country, and even though we didn’t come away with a win, we proved that we can compete with some of the top teams in Division III,” DeMichiel said.

However, the Violets’ success in singles was limited to Setter and Yanik Parsch. The team lost four out of six in singles en route to a difficult loss. However, the team had its chances — Teoh and DeMichiel both lost in competitive, three-set battles.

The teams will reunite this Saturday when they travel upstate to face the University of Rochester.

Email Michael Thompson at [email protected].