The Case Western Reserve University women's tennis team, ranked 17th in Division III, fell just short against 19th-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the finale of the Blue-Grey Invitational in Fredericksburg, Virginia on Sunday.
The loss dropped the Spartans to 11-3 on the season, as the team finished the weekend with a 2-1 record at the Invitational. MIT improved to 5-0 overall with the win.
CWRU jumped out to the early lead in the match with wins at second and third doubles. In the second match, senior Nina Cepeda and junior Jessica Liu earned an 8-7 (7-3) win over Lara Rakocevic and Kelly Zhu. At third doubles, senior Peyton Young and freshman Nicole Cardwell topped MIT's Dora Tzeng and Sonya Das 8-6.
The Spartans lone doubles loss came in the first match, where senior Nithya Kanagasegar and freshman Madeleine Paolucci were bested by Elysa Kohrs and Libby Rickeman, 8-5.
In singles action, Paolucci earned a straight-set win, 6-4, 6-3, over Zhu in the third contest. However, the Spartans would drop each of the remaining singles matches, allowing MIT to complete the comeback, and edge CWRU for the 6-3 victory.
After three weeks off from competition, Case Western Reserve will resume their spring schedule at Oberlin College on Saturday, April 7th with a 1:00 p.m. match.
