Tartan Success Clear at ITA Southeast Regional

(FREDERICKSBURG, Va.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's tennis team will have an ITA Southeast Regional Doubles Champion for the second straight year after two pairs of teammates advanced to the championship final.

Seeded fifth for the regional, junior Courtney Ollis (Suffern, N.Y. / Suffern) and freshman Janabelle Wu (San Jose, Calif. / Lynbrook) teamed up to win 8-4 and 8-3 on Saturday afternoon. The pair returned to the court on Sunday to win 8-2 against Swarthmore College's Sonia Varma and Julia Gokhberg in the quarterfinals before topping the number one seed, Anjali Kashyap and Sophia Strickland of Johns Hopkins University, 8-6, in the semifinals.

At the bottom of the bracket was sophomore Melissa Strome (West Bloomfield, Mich. / West Bloomfield) and freshman Danna Taylor (Orlando, Fla. / Circle Christian School) seeded sixth. They picked up an 8-1 victory in the first round before an 8-2 win the round of 16. Another 8-2 win was in the books for Strome and Taylor in the quarterfinals before they advanced to the finals with an 8-3 win against Cardinal and Gray teammates, sophomore Alex Iordache (Princeton, N.J. / South Brunswick) and freshman Beata Liberchuk (Edgewater, N.J. / Dwight-Englewood) in the semifinals.

In singles play, Taylor advanced to the semifinals after defeating Liberchuk in a three-set match, 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 6-1, in the quarterfinals. Joining the pair in the quarterfinals was senior Jamie Vizelman (Highland Heights, Ohio / Mayfield). Vizelman won her first set against number one seed Johanna Ranta-Aho of Christopher Newport University, 7-5, before dropping the match by 6-4, 6-3 scores in the final two sets.

Taylor will play in the semifinals of the singles bracket on Monday against Heidi Sarkkinen of Averett University at 9:00 a.m.