#15 Tartans Fall in Close Contest to #7 Amherst

(ORLANDO, Fla.) - The 15th-ranked Carnegie Mellon University men's tennis team ran into seventh-ranked Amherst College on Tuesday and loss 5-4 to the Mammoths. Carnegie Mellon is now 5-5 overall while Amherst remains unbeaten at 5-0.

The senior pair of Yannick Bloem (Geneva, Switzerland / EPFL, Lausanne) and Vayum Arora (Fremont, Calif. / Mission San Jose) won at third doubles for the Tartans after Amherst grabbed the first two points winning at first and second doubles. The senior tandem won by the score of 8-6.

The Mammoths made the score 3-1 before sophomore Ray Boppana (Boxborough, Mass. / Acton Boxborough Regional) won a straight set (6-0, 6-3) match at fourth singles to make the score 3-2. Minutes later the score was knotted at 3-3 when freshman Sam Gibson (Chico, Calif. / Pleasant Valley) won 6-4, 6-2 at sixth singles.

Amherst won at third singles to make the score 4-3 and then freshman Clark Safran (Stanford, Calif. / Menlo School) forced a third set at fifth singles for the Tartans. The freshman then came away with a 10-7 breaker win to tie the match at 4-all, but the Mammoths won at second singles to seal the win.

Carnegie Mellon will conclude its spring trip with a 7:00 p.m. match on Wednesday against ninth-ranked Wesleyan University.