Tartans Split with Division I and II Opponents

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's tennis team, ranked seventh in Division III, topped Division II Walsh University, 8-1, before falling to Division I Saint Francis University, 5-2, on Saturday, February 11. Both matches were played at The Club Sport and Life in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. The Tartans are now 4-3 on the season while the Cavaliers dropped just their second match of the year and are now 6-2 and the Red Flash advance to 4-2.

In the morning match, the Tartans swept doubles play with sophomore Daniel Levine (Highland Park, Ill./Boca Prep International School) and freshman Mark Prettyman (Fairfax, Va./Thomas Jefferson) earning the first point at first doubles with an 8-5 win. Sophomore Chaz Downing (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona Del Mar) and freshman Nicholas Calzolano (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central) then won 8-1 at third doubles before senior Kenny Zheng (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley Central) and junior Jeffrey Chen (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) earned the third win at second doubles, 9-7.

In singles play, senior Kunal Wadwani (Saratoga, Calif./Ballarmine College Prep) finished first in the fifth position with a 6-1, 6-1 win. Downing then clinched the team win at second singles with a 6-0, 6-4 victory.

The afternoon match against Saint Francis was played by Division I rules and scoring to six. The Red Flash picked up the doubles points with wins at first and third doubles. The Tartans tandem of Zheng and Chen won at second doubles in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-5).

The Red Flash won the first three singles matches that went to decision to clinch the match victory. Picking up wins for the Tartans was Downing at second singles, 6-3, 6-2, and Zheng at third singles, 6-2, 6-3.

The Tartans will return to action on Saturday, February 18 on the road against Division I Youngstown State University at 3:00 p.m.