No. 12 Tartans Place Fifth at ITA National Team Indoor Championship

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.) - The 12th-ranked Carnegie Mellon University women's tennis team placed fifth at the 2017 ITA National Team Indoor Championship after winning a pair of matches on Saturday, March 4. The Tartans started the day with a 5-1 win over the University of Mary Washington, ranked 15th, and a 5-2 win over 14th-ranked Johns Hopkins University. This years championships is being held in Murfreesboro, Tenn. and is hosted by Sewanee. Carnegie Mellon is now 9-3 overall as the team head west for spring break.

In the Win over Mary Washington, the freshmen duo of Vinaya Rao (Vernon Hills, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) and Courtney Ollis (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) won 8-4 at second doubles and sophomore Jamie Vizelman (Highland Heights, Ohio/Mayfield) and junior Katie Lai (Hagatna, Guam/St. Andrew's Episcopal School) picked up an 8-3 win at third doubles to give Carnegie Mellon a 2-1 lead heading into singles play.

Senior Nicholle Torres (Weston, Fla./Great Neck South) won 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles before Rao won 6-1, 6-4 in the fourth slot to put the Cardinal and Gray ahead 4-1. Vizelman then sealed the win with a 7-6, 6-1 victory at No. 3.

In the fifth-place match against Johns Hopkins, the Tartans once again took a 2-1 advantage into singles. This time, the top doubles tandem of Torres and junior Cori Sidell (Redwood Shores, Calif./Carlmont) won 8-6 and Rao and Ollis won 8-2 at No. 2.

Lai started the scoring off for the Tartans in singles play with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 6. Rao won 6-1, 6-4 at No. 4 and Torres clinched the match with another straight set victory at No. 1, winning 7-5, 6-2.

Next up for the Tartans is their spring break trip out west. Their first match will be Friday, March 10 against Whittier.