W. Tennis serves up win over Denison

The Hopkins women's
tennis team traveled to
Greencastle, IN this past
weekend to compete in
the ITA National Team Indoor
Championship. The
competing teams were
Denison University, Claremont-
Mudd-Scripps Colleges,
Washington University,
University of Chicago,
Washington & Lee University,
Carnegie Mellon University,
DePauw University
and Hopkins.
This nationwide tournament
featured some of
the best teams in the country,
including eight of the
top 16 teams in the latest
Campbell/ITA Division III
women's team rankings,
half of which sit inside the
top 10. Last year's champion,
the Emory Eagles, did
not get slated into the tournament,
so a new champion
would be crowned.
In the opening round on
Friday afternoon, Hopkins
drew a tough opponent,
the eighth-ranked Washington
& Lee Generals.
Hopkins found themselves
down, 4-2, but they did
not give up. The Blue Jays
eventually tied the match
at 4-4.
This late surge was led
by Hopkins sophomore
Abby Clark and freshman
Shannon Herndon. Clark
beat Washington & Lee's
Trelsie Sadler 6-4, 6-3 to
win at fifth singles. Herndon
then followed with a
victory over Lindsey Burke
in three sets, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 at
fourth singles.
Despite cutting the deficit, the Washington &
Lee Generals ultimately prevailed
5-4 over the Blue Jays.
With the opening round
loss to the Generals, the
Jays next faced off against
the University of Chicago
in the consolation semifinals.
Chicago jumped out
to an early 2-1 lead with
wins at first and second
doubles. Hopkins freshman
Elaine Baik and senior
Courtney Boger tied the
match at one with an 8-6
win over Chicago's Maggie
Schumann and Linden Li.
But Chicago came back
with another win to take
the lead back to 2-1. Chicago
never looked back after
taking the early lead. They
stayed in the lead until the
end, earning a 6-3 final
score over Hopkins.
After two tough losses
in their first two matches,
the Blue Jays sought revenge
against sixth-ranked
Dension University and got
the much needed win. This
was the highest ranked opponent
that the Blue Jays
had ever beaten in the program's
history. Hopkins took an early
lead with a decisive 8-2
victory in the opening
match. After Denison took
the second match, it was all
Hopkins. In the end, Hopkins
defeated Denison, 5-1.
This victory gave the Blue
Jays a seventh place finish
in the ITA National Indoor
Championship.
Although the Blue Jays
did not finish as high as
they hoped, their performance
showed great
promise heading into the
rest of the season. The Blue
Jays faced some of the best
teams in the country and
they were barely edged
out in their two losses. The
tournament also gave the
Blue Jays the opportunity
to get acclimated with their
team before going into Centennial
Conference play.
The Blue Jays will be
back in action on Saturday
Mar. 17th at Haverford.
This will start conference
play. Hopkins is looking
to build off of their performance
at the ITA Indoor
Nationals and carry that
momentum throughout
the season.