BALTIMORE, Md. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's tennis team made a memorable debut in its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance on Friday, defeating Allegheny College, 4-0, in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship at Johns Hopkins' Tennis Courts.
Fresh off capturing the first Liberty League Championship in program history, the Engineers carried that momentum 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 as RPI secured doubles point. Nicole Ridenour and Anushka Jaiswal completed the doubles 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 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 6-0, 6-1 victory, officially sealing the historic NCAA Tournament win for the Engineers.
Several 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 on Saturday, May 9.