NASHVILLE, TENN. – The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Tennis team advanced to the Semifinals of the ITA Indoor National Championship after their 5-4 win over Carnegie Mellon on Friday night at the Ensworth School.
Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens improve to 3-1 overall.
The Sagehens started out in a big hole after dropping all three of the doubles matches to start the match. Pomona-Pitzer lost the first doubles match of the day at No. 3 as Jay Kim and Caroline Casper fell 8-5 followed by Arianna Chen and Jacinta Chen who fell at No. 2 doubles 8-6. The Sagehens ended doubled with a hard-fought loss at the No. 1 spot as Margherita Andreassi and Maria Lyven fell 8-7 to go down 3-0 heading into singles play.
Facing a 3-0 deficit, the Sagehens came fighting back during the singles matches. The Sagehens first got a point after a win at No. 3 singles as Arianna Chen made quick work of her opponent with a 6-0, 6-1 win. Lucy Jiang followed up with a win in straight-sets at No. 6 singles by the scores of 6-1, 6-3 but Carnegie Mellon got another point with a win at No. 5 as Rebecca Salaway fell 6-3, 6-2 to bring the score to 4-2.
Pomona-Pitzer went on to win three consecutive battles at No. 4, No. 1 and No. 2 singles. Andreassi edged out a win in her first set by the score of 7-6 and then finished off her opponent 6-4 to bring the Sagehens within one at 4-3. Casper lost her first set with a close 7-5 finish but came back to win set two 6-0. After being down 3-0 in set three, Casper rallied back and finished off her opponent 6-4 as the match all came down to No. 2 singles.
Lyven dropped her first set by the score of 7-5 but battled back in set two to take a 7-6 win and forced a set three to decide the quarterfinals. Lyven saved six match points in her match and went on to dominate set three 6-1 to clinch a spot for the Sagehens in the Semifinals.
Up Next: The Sagehens will face Emory in the Semifinals on Saturday, March 2nd at 1:00 p.m.
