Women's tennis takes second place in UAA Conference Championships

The Tartans took second place in the UAA Conference Championships for the first time since 2009 in women’s tennis this weekend, sealing an overall record of 12–7.

The women’s tennis team began their championship run with a 9-0 victory over the University of Rochester on Thursday morning, marking head coach Andrew Girard’s 300th career victory.

The Tartans started the match with three wins in doubles action as junior Katie Cecil and sophomore Angela Pratt won 8–3 at No. 1 doubles, sophomore Bryn Raschke and first-year Brooke Tsu won 8–1 at No. 2 doubles, and senior Alex Tapak and sophomore Lydia Utkin won 8–1 at No. 3 doubles.

Cecil won her No. 1 singles match, followed by a No. 6 victory by Raschke. First-year Elizabeth Martin and Tsu each turned in wins at No. 3 singles and No. 4 singles, respectively.

The final two singles victories came from Pratt at No. 2 singles and first-year Abbey Hamstra at No. 5 singles.

On Friday afternoon, the team beat the No. 10 Washington University in St. Louis to advance to the semifinal round of the UAA Championship Tournament. After falling behind 1–0 in doubles play, the No. 1 pair of Cecil and Pratt came back at 8–4 to tie the match at 1–1. Raschke and Tsu came back from a score of 0-3 to win their second match of the tournament and give the Tartans a 2–1 lead with an 8–4 victory.

“The best part of the weekend was having that great doubles and team wins to get revenge against Wash. U,” Raschke said.

Following Tsu’s tough loss at No. 4 singles, Cecil won the Tartans back the lead at 3–2 with a 6–2, 6–3 win at No. 1 singles.

Martin was next up in singles play when she won 7–4, 6–1 at No. 3 singles for her second win of the tournament. With only one more point needed for the team victory, Pratt led with a three-set come back win No. 2 singles. Pratt overcame a 6–0 deficit after the first set to win 6–4 and 7–5 for the fifth and deciding match point.

The final point for the Tartans in Friday’s match was won by Raschke at No. 6 singles.

Unfortunately, the team was unable to carry the momentum from Friday into Saturday’s championship game. The Tartans lost 9–0 to the No. 3-ranked Emory University Eagles. Although there were first-set wins in singles play from Martin and Hamstra, both lost in the third set by their opponents.

The Tartans now look forward to playing in the NCAA Regional Tournament on May 10. “We fought hard in our matches and cheered for each other among courts,” Raschke said. “We look forward to NCAAs.”

Hamstra said, “This weekend was really important for us as we approach NCAAs, and our second-place finish and win over Emory really showed what we can do when we work as a team.”

“I would like to see us carry the team unity we had this weekend into Regionals and come out with a win,” she added.