#10 Tartans Down Division II Shippensburg, Drop Contest to #3 Amherst

(ORLANDO, Fla.) - The 10th-ranked Carnegie Mellon University women's tennis team was back on the courts Monday in Orlando, Florida, and once again split a pair of matches. The Tartans opened the day with third-ranked Amherst College and loss 6-3. The Cardinal and Gray then rebounded and took down Division II Shippensburg University 6-1 under the lights. Carnegie Mellon is now 9-4 overall.

Against Amherst, the Tartans junior tandem of Vinaya Rao (Vernon Hills, Ill. / Adlai E. Stevenson) and Courtney Ollis (Suffern, N.Y. / Suffern) claimed the lone point for Carnegie Mellon in doubles with an 8-5 win in the second spot.

Carnegie Mellon then won at third and first singles. Freshman Janabelle Wu (San Jose, Calif. / Lynbrook) won a straight set, 6-3, 6-2, match at third singles while freshman Danna Taylor (Orlando, Fla. / Circle Christian School) won 6-7 (6), 6-4, 1-0 (6) at the top spot.

In the win over Shippensburg, the Tartans swept through doubles play winning each by the score of 6-0 to earn the team-point according to Division II scoring rules before earning victories at the top five singles positions with the Raiders taking a point at the sixth spot.

Rao and Ollis moved up to first doubles and won their fourth match of the trip. Taylor teamed with sophomore Alex Iordache (Princeton, N.J. / South Brunswick) at second doubles and Wu partnered with classmate Lindy Cornwall (Poway, Calif. / Poway) to win third doubles.

Senior Jamie Vizelman (Highland Heights, Ohio / Mayfield) played first singles and won 8-1. Second through fifth singles were each won by the score of 8-0. Rao played second, followed by Cornell at third. Freshman Beata Liberchuk (Edgewater, N.J. / Dwight-Englewood) collected the win in the fourth spot while Ollis took the point at fifth singles.

The Tartans are off tomorrow and return to the courts for their last day of competition on the spring trip Wednesday, March 13. The Cardinal and Gray will play seventh-ranked Wesleyan University at 7:00 p.m. in a rematch of the third round of the 2018 NCAA Division III Tennis Championship.