Tightly Contested Match Favors #9 WashU Over #10 Tartans at ITA Indoor Championship

(CLEVELAND, Ohio) - The 10th-ranked Carnegie Mellon University men's tennis team faced ninth-ranked Washington University in St. Louis in the first round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship Friday at the Cleveland Racquet Club in Cleveland, Ohio, and dropped a 5-4 battle. The setback moves the Tartans record to 3-2 while the Bears improve to 4-2.

Carnegie Mellon opened play taking a 2-1 lead following doubles play. With the score knotted at 1-1, the tandem of junior Nicholas Calzolano (Hinsdale, Ill. / Hinsdale Central) and sophomore Ray Boppana (Boxborough, Mass. / Acton Boxborough Regional) forced a tiebreaker at second doubles and went on to take the team point with a 7-3 breaker score. The duo of seniors Daniel Levine (Highland Park, Ill. / Boca Prep International School) and Chaz Downing (Newport Beach, Calif. / Corona Del Mar) started the match with an 8-2 win at first doubles.

In singles, the Bears took a 3-12 after recording wins at first and sixth doubles. Freshman Clark Safran (Stanford, Calif. / Menlo School) then made the score 3-3 with a straight set win at the fifth spot winning by the scores of 7-6, 7-5. Second, third and fourth singles each went to a third set tiebreaker. The Bears took two of the points, winning at second and third singles by the scores of 6-2, 6-7, 7-6 (5) and 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), respectively. Carnegie Mellon's fourth point came when junior Robert Levin (Virginia Beach, Va. / Princess Anne) won 3-6, 7-6, 7-6 (3) at fourth singles.

The Tartans will next face either 18th-ranked Case Western Reserve University or third-ranked University of Chicago in the consolation semifinals on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.