Tight Match at No. 10 Pomona-Pitzer Stops Tartans

(CLAREMONT, Calif.) - The eighth-ranked Carnegie Mellon University women's tennis team dropped its second match of the year, falling 5-4 to the 12th-ranked Pomona-Pitzer Colleges Sagehens on Thursday, March 13 at Pomona. The Tartans are now 9-2 on the season while Pomona moves to 5-2.

The Tartans took a 1-0 lead after the number two doubles pair of junior Angela Pratt (Saratoga, Calif./St. Francis) and freshman Nicholle Torres (Weston, Fla./Great Neck South) won 8-2 over Rosemary Pelch and Maddie Gordon and later held a 2-1 lead at the completion of doubles as junior Lydia Utkin (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Jerome) and sophomore Brooke Tsu (Hillsborough, Calif./Burlingame) won at the third position 9-8 (7-5).

Part way through singles play the Tartans held the edge at four, five and six singles, as all three won their first set.

Torres won her number five singles match 6-4, 6-3 but Pomona took wins at one, three, and four to take a 4-3 lead.

Despite winning her first set, sophomore Abbey Hamstra (Wheatfield, Ind./Kankakee Valley) fell in three sets at number six singles which went down as the fifth point of the match for the Sagehens.

The final point for the Tartans came from freshman Vanessa Pavia (Thornwood, N.Y./Academy of our Lady of Good Counsel) at number two singles as she fought back to win with a super tiebreaker in the third set 12-10. She dropped the first set 7-6 (7-2) before forcing the third with a 6-3 win.

The Tartans won't get much rest as they play their third match in three days against 15th-ranked University of the South on Thursday, March 14 at 8:00 p.m. PT.