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This weekend, the Yale women’s tennis team (1–0, 0–0 Ivy) returned to competition at Cullman-Heyman, welcoming Quinnipiac University (0–2, 0–0 Metro Atlantic) and Brown University (1–0, 0–0 Ivy).

The Blue and White battled the Bobcats on Saturday, posting a 7–0 commanding victory. The Elis then warmed up for spring Ivy competition in a scrimmage against Brown on Sunday.

“Against Quinnipiac, we had great energy across the courts, stuck to our own game styles, and kept an attitude of winning to do anything to get a point from the start,” Mirabelle Brettkelly ’25 wrote.

Across the board, Yale did not drop a single set against Quinnipiac on Saturday. Chelsea Kung ’23 cruised to a 6–0, 6–4 victory at No. 1 singles. Kung and Vivian Cheng ’23 defeated Quinnipiac’s No. 1 doubles duo of Alessia Truden and Kamilla Nella in a tiebreaker. 

Sizeable wins included Sophia Zaslow ’26 at No. 5 singles, who beat Bobcat Nikole Lisovyy 6–1, 6–1, and Jamie Kim ’25 at No. 6 singles, who defeated Andie Williams 6–0, 6–3.

“I loved the energy of competing with my team in my first season match,” Zaslow wrote to the News. “I think my team had great energy and intensity.”

The Bulldogs welcomed Brown to New Haven for a scrimmage on Sunday, with an unofficial team score of 3–4.

This was the Blue and White’s first Ivy competition since facing Dartmouth College in Hanover on Nov. 4, 2022. However, neither of these matchups count towards the Ivy League spring season 2023 standings.

“My personal highlight of the weekend was my match in the scrimmage against Brown, when I saved three match points and won the super tiebreak 14–12,” Zaslow said.

The Elis’ return comes after a successful fall. Kung and Cheng made it to the quarterfinals of ITA Super Regionals, while Kung also advanced to the quarterfinals in the singles draw and competed at the ITA All-American Championship.

“I think we did a really good job with our energy and handling nerves for our first match against Quinnipiac,” head coach Rachel Kahan said. “Against Brown, I think we did a good job of adjusting our game plan when needed. We will continue to work on our doubles leading up to our next matches and depth during the rallies.”

This weekend, the Bulldogs will welcome Rutgers University (2–0, 0–0 Big Ten) and Indiana University (3–0, 0–0 Big Ten) to Cullman-Heyman. 

Yale will attempt to continue their winning streak against Rutgers following their most recent 5–2 victory over the Scarlet Knights on Feb. 19, 2022. The Blue and White will also see if they can flip their narrow 3–4 loss against the Hoosiers on Feb. 5, 2022 into a victory this weekend.

“We’re going to target keeping our intensity and energy high to carry into our matches against Rutgers and Indiana,” rookie Ann Wright Guerry ’26 said.

The men’s team will kick off their team’s spring season with matches against Binghamton (0–4, 0–0 America East), Fairfield (0–0, 0–0 Metro Atlantic) and Temple (0–1, 0–0 American) this weekend. They will commence Ivy League play on April 7 against Harvard (2–0, 0–0 Ivy) at home.

The women will kick off Ivy League play on April 1 in Providence against Brown.