#6 Tartans Just Miss Moving On at NCAA Championship

(CARY, N.C.) – The Carnegie Mellon University women's tennis team, ranked sixth in the nation, took on #3 Amherst College in the quarterfinals of the 2012 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship on Monday, May 21, with the match going down to the wire. The Tartans came up short, 5-4, despite a marathon singles match by senior Laura Chen (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) who was determined to pull out her match in hopes of moving the Tartans to the semifinals for the first time in school history.

Chen kept the Tartans chances alive when she tied the match at 4-4 with a three-set win at No. 2 singles over sophomore Jennifer Newman. Chen dropped the first set 6-0 but rallied to win the second 6-4 and then took the third 7-6(7-2).

With the score tied at 4-4, the Tartans looked to freshman Chelsea Motie (Melbourne, Fla./West Shore) at No. 3 singles to pull out the fifth and deciding point but the first-year athlete wasn't able to close the deal falling in three sets 6-2, 2-6, 3-6.

The freshmen pair of Bryn Raschke (Del Mar, Calif./Torrey Pines) and Motie tied the score at 1-1 after winning their No. 2 doubles match 8-5 against sophomores Zoe Pangalos and Newman. The Tartans found themselves down 1-0 after the senior duo of Chen and Courtney Chin (Cupertino, Calif./Monta Vista), ranked second in the Atlantic South region, fell 8-3 to Laura Danzig and Gabby Devlin, the number one ranked team in the Northeast Region.

The Tartans No. 3 doubles team of sophomore Katie Cecil (Huntington Beach, Calif./Ocean View) and senior Cza-Ja Tam (Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula) lost a heartbreaker to Safi Aly and Caroline Richman 9-8 (8-6) which gave the Jeffs a 2-1 lead heading into singles play.

Tam tied the score at 2-2 with her 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 6 singles, while Chin then tied the score at 3-3 with a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles. Along with Chen's win in the No. 2 slot, all three seniors finished their careers with singles victories.