NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Johns Hopkins picked up a pair of wins on Friday in Newport News as JHU beat 15
th-ranked Tufts (5-2) and Grinnell (6-1). The Blue Jays improve to 4-3 on the season with their third straight win.
The Blue Jays opened the day against the Jumbos at the Natalie Pitts Memorial Invitational.
Ava Li and
Kamila Wong picked up the first win of the day as they beat Natalie Hu and Lucy Mitchell, 6-1, at two doubles. Claudia Grove and Melanie Woodbury then won 6-2 over
Claire Loftus and
Sahana Madala at three. The match at one would decide the doubles' point and it was JHU's
Sophia Kim and
Lia Melvin that came out on top with a 6-4 win over Rachel Cranley and Stephanie Woodbury.
Li then defeated Nadia Khera 6-4, 6-1 at four singles to put JHU up 2-0. Ellie Gershaw answered with a 6-2, 6-2 win over
Sydney Langer at six to make it a 2-1 match. Melvin pushed the Blue Jays' lead back to two when she beat Cranley 7-5, 6-2 at two. Wong followed with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Melanie Woodbury at three to clinch the win. Mitchell grabbed another point for the Jumbos with a 6-4, 0-6, 1-0 (8) win over Kim at one. Madala came from behind to beat Athena Li 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (8) to close out the match.
Hopkins then took on Grinnell in a match outside of the Invitational. The Blue Jays swept the doubles to take the early 1-0 lead in the match. Langer and Melvin won 6-1 over Pari Chavan and Logan Tom at one. Loftus and
Aubrey Zhou won by the same score at three versus Nichole Henning and Anika Sheth.
Ava Li and
Karah Li completed the sweep with a tight 7-6 (2) win over Tan Mukherjee and Eliana Martin at two.
The Blue Jays then won five of the six singles matches, dropping a total of just 12 games in those five wins. Loftus needed the minimum 12 games to win at two over Isa Voinescu.
Karah Li and Zhou nearly turned the same trick in their wins at four and six.
Karah Li beat Henning 6-0, 6-1 and Zhou won 6-1, 6-0 over Mukherjee. Kim grabbed a 6-3, 6-3 win over Chavan and one singles and
Ava Li won 6-1, 6-3 over Sheth at five. Tom closed out the match and picked up the Pioneers' lone point of the match, with a 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (9) win over Langer at three.
Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, March 21 against Kenyon. The match is scheduled for a 2:00 pm start.
