The 33rd-ranked Case Western Reserve University women's tennis team suffered a setback in its first match of the 2019 University Athletic Association Championships, as the Spartans fell to 14th-ranked Brandeis University 5-0 at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
The loss will send the seventh-seeded Spartans to the consolation draw, where they will take on the sixth-seeded and nationally 15th-ranked Washington (Mo.) University at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, April 26th. Brandeis will advance to the UAA semifinals to take on the third-seeded and the nationally 11th-ranked University of Chicago on Friday.
With the loss, the Spartans fell to 7-10 overall on the season, while the Judges improved to 12-5.
Brandeis won the first doubles match of the day, with Diana Dehterevich and Keren Khromchencko besting sophomore Mira Amin and freshman Sneha Karnam 8-1 in the second doubles match. The Judges then won the next two doubles matches as Olivia Leavitt and Lauren Bertsch defeated sophomores Madeleine Paolucci and Nicole Cardwell 8-5 at first doubles, and Sophia He and Ana Hatfield defeated freshmen Shreyaa Mukund and Nidhi Jha 8-1 in the third doubles match.
In singles play, Cardwell dropped a 6-0, 6-0 decision to Leavitt at no. 2 singles, and Karnam fell to Bertsch at fourth singles, 6-0, 6-3. The rest of the singles matches were left unfinished, with matches at the UAA Championships only being played to decision.
The Spartans will now turn their attention towards their consolation matchup on Friday. Washington will enter the match with an overall record of 11-11. The Bears are ranked third in the Central Region. This will be the second meeting of the season between the two teams, after the Spartans fell 6-3 to WashU on April 13th. CWRU picked up wins from Paolucci and Cardwell in doubles play, while Paolucci and Cardwell also earned wins in singles play.
The winner of Friday's match will advance to face the winner of the other consolation contest between New York University and the University of Rochester in the fifth-place match, while the losing teams will face in the seventh-place match. Both matches are scheduled for Saturday at 8:30 a.m.
Fans can follow all of the action with live stats at http://www.enrollment.cmu.edu/athletics/mtennis/xlive.htm. Results and a recap of the match will be posted to athletics.case.edu following the completion of play.
