March 21, 2012

Box Score | Photo Gallery

BALTIMORE, MD - The 10th-ranked Johns Hopkins women's tennis team played a pair of matches on Wednesday afternoon against fourth-ranked Emory and Centennial Conference foe, Dickinson. The Eagles just edged the Blue Jays, 5-4, in Atlanta for their seventh straight win. Meanwhile, at home in Baltimore, Hopkins beat Dickinson, 8-1, to move to 2-0 in conference play. Hopkins ends the day with a 4-3 overall record.

Down in Atlanta, the Eagles took a 2-1 lead in the match with wins at first and second doubles. Gabrielle Clark and Zahra Dawson, the region's number one doubles team, won a close 8-6 decision at first over sophomore Hailey Hogan and junior Nandita Krishnan. Brenna Kelly and Malavik Padmanabhan then beat sophomore Abby Clark and freshman Shannon Herndon, 8-4, to stake Emory to a 2-0 lead. Freshman Elaine Baik and senior Courtney Boger cut that deficit in half with an 8-6 win over Catharine Harris and Danielle Truitt at third.

Clark, the number one singles player in the Atlantic South, opened singles play with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Baik at first. Krishnan made it a 3-2 match after she beat Dawson, 6-4, 6-2, at third. But Padmanabhan pushed the Eagles one point closer to victory as she beat Herndon, 6-3, 6-2 at fourth. Hogan staved off defeat with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win at second over Jordan Wylie. But Taylor Brandt would clinch the win for the Eagles at fifth as she beat Clark, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Freshman Stephanie Rettig wrapped up the match with a come-from-behind win at sixth over Harris. She dropped her first set, 6-2, but came back to win the second (6-3) and third (6-1) to take the win.

Against Dickinson, Hopkins swept the doubles and won five of six singles in the win. Freshmen Kaitlin Pfisterer and Macie Wilkins won 8-3 at first over Alysia Rodgers and Shannon Lavery. Sophomore Lauren Fields and freshman Shannon Libaw earned an 8-2 win over Leigh Oczkowski and Brittany Zoll at second. Freshmen Carolyn Drogt and Kaitlyn Coleman dropped just one game in an 8-1 win at third over Madeline Altholtz and Dominique Hedderich.

In singles, the Blue Jays won second through sixth in straight sets, while the Red Devils earned their point at first with a super tie-breaker win. Libaw dropped just two games in a 6-0, 6-2 win at fourth over Oczkowski. Fields then secured the win at sixth as she beat Altholtz, 6-0, 6-3. Junior Andrea Berlinghof won at second, beating Lavery, 6-2, 6-1. Coleman earned a 6-2, 6-4 win over Zoll at third, while Wilkins won 6-4, 6-2 over Ilana Unger at fifth. Rodgers picked up the Red Devils' win with a come-from-behind win. She lost her first set against Pfisterer, 6-4, but won the second, 6-2, to force a super tie-break, which she won 10-5.

Hopkins returns to action at the Fab Five Tournament, hosted by Washington & Lee. Hopkins will face 18th-ranked Sewanee at 4:00 pm on Friday, March 23.