HAINES CITY, Fla. - The 39th-ranked Haverford College women's tennis team (4-2) fell to No. 11 Carnegie Mellon (9-4) in neutral site action at the Lake Eva Tennis Center on Friday, with the Tartans grabbing an 8-1 victory. Haverford wrapped up its stint in Central Florida with the conclusion of the match.
Haverford was swept by the Tartans in doubles play, but the pairing of Rachel Fitzgerald and Anne Tobin grabbed three games from the nation's fifth-ranked doubles team of Lindy Cornwall and Bin Zheng. Ellie Esterowitz and Abbey Russano also looked strong, getting to five games against a formidable pairing of Farida Abdelmoneum and Sirman Bedi at the third flight.
Moving into singles play, Haverford had a pair of standout efforts as Abbey Russano grabbed the first set from Crystal Zho by a 6-2 final, taking the early lead from the No. 9 singles player in the nation. Russano was defeated in a superbreaker, falling 10-6 in that pro set as the Tartans added their eighth tally of the afternoon. Emily Oh recorded a tally in Haverford's column with her victory over Janabelle Wu. Oh took the first set in a tiebreak before falling in the second. In the superbreaker, it was a 10-6 victory for Oh, who has recorded a 3-1 record at number five singles to begin the season.
Elsewhere, Mimi Lavin grabbed six total games from Zoe Angell while Rachel Fitzgerald had a strong turn at the top flight, grabbing five total games from Sarah Yang, the nation's No. 35 player.
Haverford also completed its matchup with Kenyon from Wednesday's rain delay. The contest was played to completion with the Ladies of Kenyon coming out with a 5-0 victory. Haverford was down 2-0 going into Friday's rescheduled match, and Kenyon grabbed the third doubles point as Ellie Esterowitz and Abbey Russano were dispatched 8-7 despite fighting hard to force a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker decision went to Kenyon 7-5.
Kenyon needed only two match wins, and got them quickly as Rachel Fitzgerald was defeated 6-2, 6-2 and the match was clinched as Russano fell 6-1, 6-2 to Eleni Dakos.
The Fords will return to action on Saturday, March 26 with a home contest against Stevens. The match with the Ducks is slated for a noon start.