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Tartans Win Twice to Place Fifth at ITA National Team Indoor Championship

Tartans Win Twice to Place Fifth at ITA National Team Indoor Championship

From Carnegie Mellon University Athletics

The 12th-ranked Carnegie Mellon University women's tennis team placed fifth at the 2017 ITA National Team Indoor Championship after winning a pair of matches on Saturday, March 4. The Tartans started the day with a 5-1 win over the University of Mary Washington, ranked 15th, and a 5-2 win over 14th-ranked Johns Hopkins University. This years championships is being held in Murfreesboro, Tenn. and is hosted by Sewanee. Carnegie Mellon is now 9-3 overall as the team head west for spring break.

In the Win over Mary Washington, the freshmen duo of Vinaya Rao (Vernon Hills, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) and Courtney Ollis (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) won 8-4 at second doubles and sophomore Jamie Vizelman (Highland Heights, Ohio/Mayfield) and junior Katie Lai (Hagatna, Guam/St. Andrew's Episcopal School) picked up an 8-3 win at third doubles to give Carnegie Mellon a 2-1 lead heading into singles play.

Senior Nicholle Torres (Weston, Fla./Great Neck South) won 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles before Rao won 6-1, 6-4 in the fourth slot to put the Cardinal and Gray ahead 4-1. Vizelman then sealed the win with a 7-6, 6-1 victory at No. 3.

In the fifth=place match against Johns Hopkins, the Tartans once again took a 2-1 advantage into singles. This time, the top doubles tandem of Torres and junior Cori Sidell (Redwood Shores, Calif./Carlmont) won 8-6 and Rao and Ollis won 8-2 at No. 2.

Lai started the scoring off for the Tartans in singles play with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 6. Rao won 6-1, 6-4 at No. 4 and Torres clinched the match with another straight set victory at No. 1, winning 7-5, 6-2.