Tartans Start NCAA Championship Run With a 5-0 Victory

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The eighth-ranked Carnegie Mellon University women's tennis team competed in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Division III Championships Friday, May 10, and advanced with a 5-0 victory over Marywood University. The win moves the Tartans' dual-match record to 13-7, as the Pacers end their season at 12-6. Carnegie Mellon is hosting the three-day NCAA Regional.

The Tartans started the match with three wins in doubles action, as junior Katie Cecil (Huntington Beach, Calif./Ocean View) and sophomore Bryn Raschke (Del Mar, Calif./Torrey Pines) claimed the first point at No. 1 doubles with an 8-0 victory.  Seconds after that match finished, the tandem of senior Alexandra Tapak (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central) and sophomore Lydia Utkin (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Jerome) won by the identical score at No. 2.

The freshmen duo of Elizabeth Martin (St. Simons Island, Ga./Frederica Academy) and Abbey Hamstra (Wheatfield, Ind./Kankakee Valley) won the Tartans' third point with an 8-2 decision at No. 3 doubles.

In singles play, Tapak won a straight-set match 6-0, 6-1 at No. 6 singles to give the Tartans a 4-0 edge.  Martin closed the match at with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles, as Carnegie Mellon won 5-0.

Carnegie Mellon will play #27 Mary Washington on Saturday, May 11 at 12 p.m. in the second round of the tournament.