Box Score

GREENCASTLE, IN - The fourth-ranked Johns Hopkins women's tennis team beat 12th-ranked Chicago, 5-4, in the semifinals of the 2015 ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Saturday night. Hopkins then beat seventh-ranked Carnegie Mellon, 6-3, to claim its third straight indoor title on Sunday afternoon. The Blue Jays start the season with an unbeaten 3-0 record while the Tartans suffer their first loss to fall to 7-1.

"It's always great to win," said Director of Tennis Dave Woodring. "There were a few years when we came here when the tournament just started and we were the people playing at 4 o'clock in the morning. It's great to come back and repeat. It's quite an honor."

Hopkins once again took a 2-1 lead into singles play with wins at second and third doubles. Junior Sydney Lehman and senior Elaine Baik put Hopkins up 1-0 after an 8-3 win at second over Angela Pratt and Nicholle Torres. But the Tartans answered at first as Cori Sidell and Bryn Raschke topped sophomore Ashnaa Rao and senior Shannon Herndon, 8-4. But the Blue Jays grabbed the final point of doubles when sophomore Jody Law and freshman Megumi Chen won six of the final seven points to earn a 9-7 win over Stacy Chang and Vanessa Pavia at third.

The Tartans swung the momentum in their favor to start singles off winning the first set at first, second and third. Pratt pulled out a straight sets win at second, beating sophomore Amanda Austi 6-4, 7-6 to tie the match at two. But the Blue Jays battled back with two come-from-behind wins at first and third to take a 4-2 lead in the match. Rao lost her first set 6-1, but answered with a 6-1 win in the second. She then won the third set, 7-6 (7-3), to take the win over Pavia. At third, Torres won the first set, 6-4, but Lehman forced a deciding set with a 6-3 win in the second. Lehman then took the third, 7-6 (8-6), to push the Blue Jays one win away from their third title.

"She's [Law] one of those players that you can count on whenever you need it," said Woodring. "She's a hard worker. Tennis is not necessarily known as a team sport. A lot of these kids come to college and it's a whole new philosophy for them to understand playing on a team. Jody gets it. She's willing to do whatever for the team. There are never any problems or grumblings about doing this or that, she's a great person to have on the team."

For the third match in a row, sophomore Jody Law clinched the win for Hopkins. She took a straight sets win at fourth over Sidell 6-1, 6-4, and served for the win. Chen followed with a come-from-behind win at fifth, beating Brooke Tsu 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-6) at fifth to give Hopkins a 6-2 lead. Raschke picked up the final point of the match as she beat Baik 6-3, 6-2 at sixth to account for the 6-3 final.

When asked about how it felt to clinch the win for the third straight day, Law responded "I feel really good about it. It makes me feel like I was a really important part of the team. Honestly, I think it was just where I was in the lineup that caused it to happen. But it still felt really good to finish it off for our team."

Hopkins took a 2-1 lead after doubles with wins at second and third. Lehman and Baik took the first point of the match with an 8-3 win at second over Tiffany Chen and Courtney Warren. Megan Tang and Ariana Iranpour then beat Roa and Herndon at first, 9-8 (8-6), tie the match at one each. But the Blue Jays responded at third as Austi and junior Olivia Kasten topped Jasmine Lee and Lucy Tang, 8-4, to send the Jays into singles play with the lead.

The Maroons opened singles play by taking the top two matches to even the score at three. Iranpour beat Rao 6-1, 6-4 at first and Tang defeated Austi 6-2, 6-3 at second. Lehman picked up a win for Hopkins as she beat Lee 6-4, 6-2 at third. Chen pushed the Blue Jays one point closer to the finals when she beat Warren 6-4, 6-0 at fifth to put JHU up 4-3. Law then clinched the win again for the Jays and punched their ticket to the championship match with a come-from-behind 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 win at fourth over Chen. Tang made it a 5-4 final as she came from behind to beat senior Stephanie Rettig 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 at sixth.

Hopkins will return to the court on March 17 as the Blue Jays travel to Pensacola, FL to take on Northeastern State. The Blue Jays will then play their first match at their brand new facility on March 21 as they host the Haveford Fords in their Centennial Conference opener.