March 22, 2009

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Just 24 hours after one beating the ninth-ranked team in the nation, 21st-ranked Johns Hopkins dropped a tough 6-3 match on Sunday to third-ranked and unbeaten Carnegie Mellon. The Blue Jays slip to 1-3 on the season while the Tartans improve to 15-0.

The Tartans took a 3-0 lead in the match after sweeping all three doubles to open the match. At first doubles, senior Brittany Matava (Denver, CO/Littleton) and freshman Carolyn Warren (Boulder, CO/Fairview), ranked 10th in the region, dropped an 8-5 match to second-ranked Laura Chen and Ashley Herrick. The Tartans took a 2-0 lead after eighth-ranked Courtney Chin and Kelly Hart defeated junior Anita Bhamidipati (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Egg Harbor Township High School) and sophomore Yasmine Elamir (Saddle River, NJ/Heritage Academy (SC)) 8-2 at second. At third, 13th-ranked Amanda Wu and Jennifer Chui defeated junior Ellen Berlinghof (Fort Washington, PA/Upper Dublin) and sophomore Abby Dwyer (Stuart, FL/Jensen Beach) 8-6.

In singles action, two of the matches went to three sets, while two were decided in a tiebreaker. Sixth-ranked Chin pushed Carnegie Mellon's lead to 4-0 with a 6-0, 6-4 win over freshman Mallory Willenborg (Miami Shores, FL/St. Thomas Aquinas). Bhamidipati, ranked 15th in the region, then upset fourth-ranked Wu in three sets to make it a 4-1 match. But Chen won a marathon match against Warren at first singles to clinch the match for the Tartans. Chen, ranked second in the region, won the first set 6-1 before 11th ranked Warren fought back and won the second set 7-5. Chen then won the third set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-2). Matava then won her match at fourth, topping Chui 7-5, 6-2 to make it 5-2. Alisa Liebowitz pushed the Tartans' lead to 6-2 after beating Dwyer at fifth. Liebowitz won the first set 7-5 before Dwyer came back to win the second 6-3 setting up a tiebreaker for the third set. Liebowitz battled back to win 12-10. Elamir closed out the match with a come-from-behind win at sixth over Danielle Rosenfeld. Rosenfeld won the first set 6-2 but Elamir battled back and won the second 6-4 to set up a tiebreaker to decide the match. Elamir won the tiebreaker 11-9 to end the match at 6-3.

Hopkins returns to action on Wednesday, March 26 as the Blue Jays travel to Chestertown, MD to take on the Washington College Shorewomen. The match, the Centennial Conference opener for Hopkins, is slated to begin at 4:00 pm.