Bears Upset No. 11 Carnegie Mellon 5-4 to Finish Third at UAA Championship
RESULTS
Belleville, Ill., April 24, 2011 – The No. 15 Washington University in St. Louis women’s tennis team came back to upset No. 11 Carnegie Mellon University and capture third place at the 2011 University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship on Sunday morning at the Kings Point Sports Club in Belleville, Ill.
Washington University’s victory signified the only lower seed to pull an upset in 12 matches at the 2011 UAA Championship and the Bears finished in third place at the conference tournament for the first time since 2008, improving on a fifth-place finish from a year ago.
Carnegie Mellon led 2-1 through doubles competition, leaving Washington University with the task of capturing four of the six singles contests to pull the upset. The Bears won three of the first five completed matches to tied the score at 4-4, leaving the outcome to freshman Evelyn Qin at second singles.
Qin took the first set from Carnegie Mellon’s Courtney Chin 6-2, but trailed 5-4 in the second set. Qin broke Chin’s serve twice down the stretch to force a 6-6 tie and head into a tiebreaker where she prevailed 7-2 to clinch the 5-4 win for the Bears. The win broke a four-match losing streak in singles for Qin, who has been playing either No. 1 or 2 for the Bears over just the last nine contests.
In doubles the No. 3 duo of sophomore Paige Madara and freshman Corinne Rauck picked up an 8-4 win over Ashley Herrick and Cze-Ja Tam to deliver what proved to be a crucial point to Washington University.
Freshman Theresa Petraskova beat Alexandra Tapak 6-1, 6-1, at No. 4 singles while Madara’s 6-2, 6-2, win over Herrick in the No. 6 match forced a 3-3 tie.
Sophomore Kate Klein briefly provided Washington U. with a 4-3 edge after beating Tam 6-3, 6-1, at third singles, but Carnegie’s Jennifer Chui beat senior Elise Sambol 6-3, 6-4, to tie the match at 4-4 with only second singles remaining.
Washington U. (15-5, 2-1 UAA) is scheduled to return to action on Saturday, May 7, when it travels to Greencastle, Ind., to face No. 14 DePauw University at 12 p.m. (ET).