Tennis ends with win and Sportsmanship Award

BOSTON, Mass. -  Behind Senior Kate Needham’s gutsy three set victory at #3 singles, the Wheelock Wildcats pulled out a 5-4 win over Newbury College Friday afternoon. In a match that spanned three days due to weather, Wheelock jumped out to a 2-1 lead after number one doubles where Wilson Chang and Bobby Venning teamed to win, 8-5.

Kevin Kareckas and Lauren Webber dominated for the 8-2 win in number three doubles.  Chang also came through with a victory at #1 singles in a pressure packed 3-setter 6-2, 6-7, 6-4. Needham pulled through with a win at #3 singles after dropping the first set 0-6, she came back to win the second set 6-4, and then down 1-4 stormed back to take the 3rd and final set 7-5.  

Her victory left the match deadlocked at 4 heading into the remaining #2 singles match. Venning, who had already won the 1st set 6-0 on Wednesday night, found himself down 1-5 on Friday afternoon. Venning then won 6 straight games to win the second set 7-5 and give the match to the Wildcats.

 The Wildcats ended the season 2-9, an improvement over last season, and finished in 4th place in the NECC. 4 singles players and all 3 doubles teams qualified and participated in the NECC conference tournament.
 
The team, led by head coach Sean Duke-Crocker, received the NECC Sportsmanship Award, while Junior Wilson Chang received honorable mention.