LEXINGTON, VA – The eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins women's tennis team split a pair of non-conference matches Saturday in Virginia. Hopkins opened the day with a 9-0 win over 20
th-ranked Denison, and then lost a heartbreaker, 5-4, to host and 25
th-ranked Washington & Lee.
Against the Big Red, freshman
Lia Melvin and
Aubrey Zhou took the first point of the match with an 8-2 win at number three doubles over Peyton Oda and Ariana Rodriguez. Graduate student
Ashley Chang and freshman
Sophia Kim then defeated Dasha Christyakova and Caroline Lopez, 8-5, at one. Freshman
Sydney Langer and sophomore
Kamila Wong completed the doubles sweep with an 8-7 (4) win at two over Caroline Kittle and Maia Nowicki.
Kim pushed the Blue Jays' lead to 4-0 as she dropped just one game in her win over Kittle at number two singles. Melvin clinched the victory when she beat Lopez 6-4, 6-1 at four. Freshman
Samantha Wang followed with a 6-2, 7-5 win at three against Christyakova. Graduate student
Mary Beth Hurley then beat Oda 6-1, 7-5 at one to make it 7-0 Hopkins. Zhou rallied from a set one loss to beat Nowick 4-6, 7-6 (5), 1-0 (1) at five. Freshman
Audrey Wijono closed out the match with a 6-4, 6-3 win at six over Elizabeth Hoo.
In the second match of the day, the Blue Jays took a 2-1 lead over the Generals. Wong and freshman
Sydney Langer earned the first point of the match with an 8-2 win over Grace Lorenz and Margaret Carlton at number two. Lauren Long and Gabriela Moss then tied the match when they beat Chang and Kim, 8-4, at one. Wang and sophomore
Jay Xiao put Hopkins back on top with an 8-5 win over Izzy Koziol and Haley Stoltz at three.
Langer put Hopkins 3-1 with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Annie Jennings at number three singles. Lorenz grabbed a point back for W&L when she won 6-3, 7-5 over Xiao at four. Hurley responded with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Long at one to make it 4-2 Blue Jays. Moss came from behind to beat Chang at two 4-6, 6-0, 6-2. Carlton then tied the match when she beat Wang 7-6, 1-6, 6-3 at five. Stoltz secured the win for the Generals with a 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 over Wong at six.
Hopkins returns to action at the 2024 ITA National Indoor Championship in Lexington, KY. JHU is slated to take on sixth-ranked Emory in the opening round on March 1.
