Tartans Split Action on First Day of Spring Break Tour

(CLAREMONT, Calif.) - The 11th-ranked Carnegie Mellon University men's tennis team split action on Sunday, March 8 during its first action of its annual spring break tour in Claremont, California. The Tartans began the day with a 5-4 loss to 15th-ranked Pomona-Pitzer Colleges before closing the night with a 9-0 win against the 40th-ranked University of Rochester. The Tartans are now 6-5 on the year.

Against Pomona, a game that came down to the last singles match for the fifth and deciding point, the Tartans were down 2-1 following doubles. The senior pair of Will Duncan (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park) and Christian Heaney-Secord (Westwood, Mass./Westwood) won in a tiebreaker, 9-8(7-4), at No. 1 doubles for the Tartans' point.

Sophomore Kiril Kirkov (Tampa, Fla./C. Leon King) won his first match of the spring 6-4, 7-6(8-6), returning from an injury, at No. 6 singles to even the score at 2-all before junior Abhishek Alla (Hyderabad, India/IMG Pendleton School) won 7-6(7-4), 6-4 at No. 1 singles, later tying the match again, this time at 3-3.

Sophomore Kunal Wadwani (Saratoga, Calif./Ballarmine College Prep) briefly gave the Tartans a 4-3 lead after his 6-4, 6-0 win at No. 4 singles but two three-set matches were won by the host Sagehens at No. 3 and No. 5 singles to decide the match.

In the nightcap against Rochester, the Tartans swept through doubles play with scores of 8-5, 8-2 and 9-7 with senior Bryce Beisswanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint School) and junior Yuvraj Kumar (New Delhi, India/Millfield School) winning their No. 2 doubles match first.

Alla won at No. 1 singles, 6-0, 6-3, and Wadwani sealed the win with a 6-2, 6-2 showing at No. 3 singles.

The Tartans return to action on Tuesday, March 10 against 18th-ranked Bowdoin College at 10:00 a.m. PDT in Claremont, California.