BETHLEHEM, PA -- The Rutgers women’s tennis team opened its 2003 dual season with a convincing 6-1 victory over Lehigh on Thursday afternoon. The Scarlet Knights won all three doubles matches and took five of six singles matches to move to 1-0 on the season, while dropping the Mountain Hawks to 0-1.

Senior co-captains Jennifer Hellier (Annapolis, MD) and Carissa Sommerlad (Bradley Beach, NJ) both won their singles matches at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively. Hellier downed Lehigh’s Jamie Fass, 6-3, 6-0, while Sommerlad beat Andrea Scott, 6-1, 6-2. Freshman Alina Balasa (East Brunswick, NJ) defeated Kristin Mulstay, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 4 singles. No. 5 singles saw RU’s Kaitlin Link (Ontario, Canada) knock off Danielle Suchow, 1-0. With only five players for Lehigh, the Scarlet Knights picked up an automatic win at No. 6 singles.

RU’s lone loss came at first singles with Andrea Weckstein (Holmdel, NJ) falling to Kristen Nowicki, 7-6, 6-4.

On the doubles side, Weckstein and Sommerlad picked up the win at the No. 1 position, downing Nowicki and Mulstay, 8-4. At No. 2, it was Hellier and freshman Ketevan Shmakova (Dover, NJ) picking up the victory over Suchow and Scott, 8-2. Link and Balasa earned a default win at No. 3 doubles.

The Scarlet Knights will host BIG EAST foe Connecticut in the season home opener on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Doubles
No. 1 Weckstein/Sommerlad (RU) def. Nowicki/Mulstay (Lehigh), 8-4
No. 2 Hellier/Shmakova (RU) def. Suchow/Scott (Lehigh), 8-2
No. 3 Link/Balasa (RU) won by default

Singles
No. 1 Kristen Nowicki (Lehigh) def. Andrea Weckstein (RU), 7-6, 6-4
No. 2 Jennifer Hellier (RU) def. Jamie Fass (Lehigh), 6-3, 6-0
No. 3 Carissa Sommerlad (RU) def. Andrea Scott (Lehigh), 6-1, 6-2
No. 4 Alina Balasa (RU) def. Kristin Mulstay (Lehigh), 6-2, 6-3
No. 5 Kaitlin Link (RU) def. Danielle Suchow (Lehigh), 1-0
No. 6 Helen Magomedova (RU) won by default