March 26, 2006

BALTIMORE, MD - The Muhlenberg Mules handed the Johns Hopkins women's tennis team (5-2, 0-2) their first loss since March 4 in a tough 5-4 decision Saturday afternoon on the Hopkins campus. The Blue Jays return to action on Saturday, April 1 at Ursinus in Centennial Conference action.

The Mules won two of the three doubles matches to take a 2-1 lead heading into the singles matches. Brittany Matava (Denver, CO/Littleton) and Tanya Gulnik (Frederick, MD/Governor Thomas Johnson) lost a close 8-5 match at the #1 spot to Amy Schmidt and Carly Rotfeld. Debbie Blass (Bridgeport, NY/Chittenango) and Becky Busch (Winnetka, IL/New Trier Township) lost by an identical 8-5 score to Pam Kimmelman and Jenn Powell at the #2 position. Jill Seidman (Arlington Heights, IL/Buffalo Grove) and Priya Puri (Wayzata, MN/The Blake School) won for the Jays at the #3 spot, beating Stacy Lipschutz and Kelly Fraser 8-6.

In singles play, the two teams split, each winning three. Schmidt beat Matava 6-2, 6-3 at #1. Gulnik won a three set match over Kimmelman at #2. Gulnik won the first set 7-5 but then lost the second 6-2 before rebounding to take the third set 6-1. Puri lost to Rotfeld at the #3 position 6-2, 6-1. Busch won a tough match at #4 over Powell. She won the first set 7-6 (4) but then lost the second 6-3. She went on to win a super tiebreaker 10-4 to take the win. Seidman beat Lipschutz 6-4, 6-0 at #5. Fraser held on at #6, beating Mary Gorski (Birmingham, MI/Shrine Catholic) to take the match for the Mules. Gorski won the first set 6-2. But Fraser rebounded to win the second 6-3 and the third 6-4.