MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The Skidmore College women's tennis team was near perfect in its opening NCAA Tournament game, sweeping Brooklyn College 5-0 in the NCAA First Round contest, held at the Magic Lincer Tennis Club on the campus of Wesleyan University Friday afternoon.
 
Skidmore (14-6), ranked 16^th in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, advances to the second round for the 11^th consecutive season, and will take on No. 8 Brandeis at noon on Saturday. Brooklyn, making its NCAA Tournament debut, finishes the season at 17-3.
 
The Thoroughbreds were dominant throughout, conceding just one game in their completed matches. In doubles, Jessica Ampel and Audrey SooHoo earned a shutout 8-0 victory at No. 2, defeating Rosa Aksanov and Georgeen Belrose. At the top spot, Risa Fukushige and Renee Karchere-Sun picked up an 8-1 victory over Ievgeniia Kostenko and Tamils Latif-Zade. Not too long afterwards, Skidmore earned the doubles sweep as Lily Feldman and Sofia Carlsson defeated Shannel Johnson and Elizaveta Meshkalova in an 8-0 shutout at No. 3.
 
Skidmore earned its final two team points via singles shutouts. At No. 4, Feldman defeated Belrose, 6-0, 6-0. SooHoo then clinched for the Thoroughbreds with her 6-0, 6-0 victory over Johnson. Fukushige, Koiava, Karchere-Sun, and Laura Swenson were leading in the second set of their matches when SooHoo clinched.
 
Skidmore will take on Brandeis Saturday afternoon, and the Thoroughbreds will be looking for revenge after a 6-3 loss to the Judges on the road in early April. The teams have traded wins and losses in each of their last four meetings. This will be the first-ever postseason meeting between the two teams; Brandeis won in its inaugural NCAA Tournament game Friday morning, defeating Penn State-Abington 5-0.