#11 Tartans Open ITA National Team Indoor Championship with 5-4 Setback to #8 Pomona-Pitzer

(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) - The 11th-ranked Carnegie Mellon University women's tennis team dropped a hard fought 5-4 battle to eighth-ranked Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in the opening round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Friday. This year's championships are being played in Nashville, Tenn. and are hosted by Sewanee. Carnegie Mellon is now 4-2 overall while Pomona-Pitzer moves to 3-1.

Carnegie Mellon open play sweeping doubles with all three matches being closely played. At first doubles, the tandem of sophomore Melissa Strome (West Bloomfield, Mich. / West Bloomfield) and freshman Danna Taylor (Orlando, Fla. / Circle Christian School) earned an 8-7 win. The junior tandem of Vinaya Rao (Vernon Hills, Ill. / Adlai E. Stevenson) and Courtney Ollis (Suffern, N.Y. / Suffern) won at second doubles by the score of 8-6 while senior Jamie Vizelman (Highland Heights, Ohio / Mayfield) teamed with freshman Janabelle Wu (San Jose, Calif. / Lynbrook) won 8-5 in the third spot.

The Sagehens were to strong in singles play winning five of six with to win the match. The Tartans lone win in singles play came from Strome with a 6-3, 6-2 victory at fifth singles.

Carnegie Mellon will play in the consolation semifinal on Saturday, March 2 against 12th-ranked Sewanee at 9:00 a.m. CT.