Tartans Battle Vulcans in Women's Tennis

Oct. 2 – (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – Facing a Division II team which finished sixth in the country last year, the Tartans women's tennis team opened their dual match season with a 7-2 hard fought loss to California University of Pennsylvania. A trio of freshmen and a junior helped the Tartans earns those two points and become just the second team to earn points against the Vulcans (6-0) this year. The only other team to score against the Vulcans was Division I Villanova University.

Carnegie Mellon University freshmen Kelly Hart (Montecito, Calif./Santa Barbara) and Ashley Herrick (Cleveland, Ohio/Elyria Catholic) finished their number two doubles match first, starting the Tartans with a 1-0 lead after an 8-2 thrashing of Inga Chilingarvan and Olga Alekseeva. Freshman Brooke Loar (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) paired with junior Kelly Nakamura (Wahiawa, Hawaii/Punahou) at number three doubles to dominate Anna Chipchase and Elodie Briquet 8-3, giving the Tartans a 2-0 advantage.

Senior Amy Staloch (Midland, Mich./H.H. Dow) and freshman Jennifer Chui (Saratoga, Calif./Monta Vista) nearly topped Helena VanEysendeyk and Lisa Santoro at number one doubles but fell 8-6 after a strong comeback from the Vulcan tandem.

The Tartans showed strength in singles play competing throughout, while Chui had a near victory as Santoro needed a third set tiebreaker to defeat the freshman 6-1, 2-6, 10-3.

The women's tennis team will continue a three match home stand when they host last year's NCAA Champion Washington & Lee University and Grove City College on Saturday, October 6 starting at 9:00 a.m.