Men’s, women’s tennis earn fifth places at UAA tennis championships
Men’s Tennis
On Friday, April 21, the Carnegie Mellon men’s tennis played the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships against ninth-ranked University of Chicago. The Tartans earned their first point of the day thanks to the doubles team of junior Derek Wong and first-year Akshay Joshi winning their match 8-6. The other Tartan point came from Joshi in the fifth spot, who won 6-3, 6-3. While seniors Raahil Doshi and Matthew Poh were up a set in their respective matches, the Maroons were able to get their fifth point to win, so their matches went unfinished. As such, the Tartans fell in their first match 5-2.
The Tartans headed into the consolation quarterfinals against New York University on Saturday, April 22. The team of Wong and Joshi once again picked up a point in doubles, winning 8-6. The team of Doshi and junior Jaden D’Abreo also won in third doubles, also 8-6, putting the Tartans ahead 2-1 at the end of doubles. While the Violets claimed the first two singles points, first-year Sebastien Lhuillier tied it back up with scores of 1-6, 6-1, 6-2. Before the end of the match, the Tartans were able to take two more points thanks to Joshi winning 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 and sophomore William Wang taking the last point 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, giving the Tartans the 5-4 win.
On Sunday, the Tartans competed in the fifth-place match against Brandeis. While the team of Joshi and Wong were able to snag a point in doubles play 8-6, none of the other Tartans were able to get one up on their opponent in singles or doubles play. After the Judges took three points in singles play, the rest of the singles matches went unfinished, giving the Tartans sixth place overall. The men’s tennis team finished the season with an overall record of 7-10.
Women’s tennis
The 14th-ranked Carnegie Mellon women’s tennis team opened play at the UAA championships on Thursday, April 20 against 17th-ranked Washington University in St. Louis. In doubles play, only the team of first-years Manuela Van Cotthem and Divya Venkatarama won, 8-6, giving Washington a 2-1 lead going into singles play. While junior Danna Taylor claimed the first point for the Tartans, 6-2, and sophomore Crystal Zhou won 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 in the third spot, the Tartans would drop the next two, giving them a 5-3 loss.
The next day, Friday, April 21, the Tartans took on Brandeis University in the consolation semifinals. In doubles play, two Tartan pairs took points; in first spot, Taylor and Zhou won 8-4 while the team of sophomore Zoe Angell and first-year Anna Chow won 8-6, giving the Tartans a 2-1 lead as they headed into singles play. Singles play ended early after the Tartans took the first three points thanks to the efforts of Van Cotthem (6-2, 602), Taylor (6-3, 6-0), and Zhou (6-4).
On Saturday, April 22, the Tartans took on Case Western Reserve in the fifth-place match. In doubles play, the team of Van Cotthem and Venkatarama took a point 8-2 while the team of Angell and Chow also took a point, 8-7 (7-5). Like their previous match, singles play ended early after the Tartans earned the first three singles points. This was thanks to wins from Taylor (6-2, 6-4), Joshi (6-3, 6-3), and Zhou (6-1, 7-5). The Tartans ended the tournament in fifth place.
Men’s track and field
On the weekend of Saturday, April 22 and Sunday, April 23, the Carnegie Mellon men’s track and field team traveled to the University of Chicago for the UAA Outdoor Championships.
Many Tartans placed well on the first day. The team of sophomores Colin McLaughlin and Sean Dutton and juniors Alex Ivanov and Andrew McGovern took first in the 4x800-meter relay with a time of 7:39.96, topping the previous school record by .02 seconds from 2015. In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, senior Elijah Sech placed second with a time of 9:48:32. Sophomore Matthew Coyle placed second in the 10,000-meter run, crossing the finish line in 30:17.90. In the hammer throw, sophomore Cody Breidenbach earned a mark of 56.65, earning him first place. Senior Bailey O’Malley took second in the shot put with a mark of 15.04 meters while first-year Sam Alligood placed right behind him in third with a mark of 13.95 meters. In the pole vault, sophomore Casey Potrebic cleared 4.30 meters, placing third.
Going into the second day of competition, a number of Tartans had qualified for event finals. In the 400-meter hurdles, McGovern took first with a time of 53.70 while first-year Tyler Williams earned sixth with a time of 57.24. Senior Alex Halkias placed second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.11. In the 1,500-meter run, McLaughlin placed second with a time of 3:52.73. The 4x100-meter relay team of senior Verne Garin, Halkias, and first-years Bennett Wong and Jacob Kelly took third with a time of 42.52. In the 110-meter hurdles, junior Thomas Rich placed fourth with a time of 15.57. Ivanov placed fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:52.96 while senior Leland Davies placed eighth with a time of 2:06.46. In the 400-meter run, junior Austin Weltz placed eighth with a time of 50.94. In the 5,000-meter run, junior Jacob Hsu placed fifth with a time of 14:42.05, sophomore Matthew Coyle placed sixth with a time of 14:42.90, and senior Elijah Sech placed seventh with a time of 14:43.42. The team of Dutton, Davies, Ivanov, and McGovern placed third in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:20.33 to close ou the running events for the Tartans.
In the high jump, sophomore Sebastian Sanso cleared 1.95 meters to earn first place; Rich cleared 1.89 meters, earning sixth place. In javelin, Potrebic took first with a throw of 54.93 meters. In Discus, Alligood took second with a throw of 44.00 meters while O’Malley finished fourth with a mark 39.91 meters. In the triple jump, sophomore Luke Blackwell finished fifth with a mark of 13.47 meters while Sanso took seventh with a mark of 13.22.
In the end, the Tartans won their fifth UAA Outdoor Championship with a total of 171.5 points, beating second-place Washington University in St. Louis, who scored 165.5. This is the Tartans’ first title since 2017.
Women’s track and field
The women’s track and field team headed to the University of Chicago on Saturday, April 22 and Sunday, April 23 for the UAA Outdoor Championships.
Senior Liz Barre broke her previous school record in the long jump of 5.52 meters with a mark of 5.86 meters, earning her the UAA title in the event. Barre also took the title in long jump, clearing 1.72 meters, earning a UAA record and breaking her previous record of 1.70 meters set earlier this season. In the hammer throw, sophomore Katie Monahan took second with a throw of 42.08 meters; she also earned third in the shot put with a mark of 12.40 meters. In the triple jump, sophomore Jocelyn Kiefel placed fourth with a mark of 13.92 meters while first-year Alexa Lowe took seventh with a jump of 10.76 meters. In the javelin, sophomore Jolie Wasserman took fifth with a throw of 30.60 meters white Barre took seventh with a mark of 29.53 meters.
Many Tartans also earned points on the track. Barre took her third UAA title, this time in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.21. Senior Samantha Giordani took fourth in the 100-meter finals with a time of 12.32 and third in the 200-meter finals with a time of 25.62. In the 4x400-meter relay, the team of junior Isabella Rhee, junior Emily Lannen, senior Kavya Tummalapalli, and Barre took fourth with a time of 4:00.81. Finally, Lowe placed sixth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:08.27.
The team finished with a total of 89 points, earning them fourth place. This ties the program’s best finish in school history.