#9 Tartans Advance to UAA Semifinals Past #22 Brandeis

(ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla.) - The ninth-ranked Carnegie Mellon University women's tennis team opened the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships with a 5-4 win against 22nd-ranked Brandeis University on Friday, April 27. The match was played at the Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida.

The Tartans, seeded second for the tournament, held a 2-1 lead after doubles play when the number one pair of senior Cori Sidell (Redwood Shores, Calif. / Carlmont) and sophomore Courtney Ollis (Suffern, N.Y. / Suffern) and the number three pair of senior Katie Lai (Hagatna, Guam / St. Andrew's Episcopal School) and junior Jamie Vizelman (Highland Heights, Ohio / Mayfield) each won their match. Sidell and Ollis finished first with an 8-1 victory against Keren Khromchenko and Sabrina R. Neergard. Lai and Vizelman pulled out a close match with a 9-7 score against Haley Cohen and Rachel Zubrinsky.

After the Judges tied the match at 2-all with a win at fifth singles, Sidell gave the Tartans back the lead with a 6-3, 6-1 win at number one singles. Sophomore Vinaya Rao (Vernon Hills, Ill. / Adlai E. Stevenson) put the Tartans up 4-2 with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in her second singles match.

Vizelman, who dropped her first set 7-6 (8-6), battled back to force a third set while Lai and freshman Hannah Rosenfield (Manchester, England / Windemere Preparatory School) were also playing in a third set. Brandeis earned wins against Lai and Rosenfield before Vizelman pulled out the victory for the match win. Vizelman's final scoreline was 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-2.

The Tartans advance to the semifinals for the 15th consecutive year and will face 10th-ranked University of Chicago on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Earlier this season, the Tartans topped Chicago, 5-0, in the third-place match of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship.