The Hopkins women’s tennis team traveled to Allentown PA, to take onMuhlenberg. In this Centennial Conference matchup the Blue Jays took no time getting off to an early lead. The Jays swept the doubles matches, taking an early 3-0 lead on the day. The Blue Jays did not lose a single match in doubles play, going 8-0 in each of the three.
Sophomore Hailey Hogan and junior NanditaKrishnan were the first pair to win a decisive victory for the Blue Jays. Freshman Shannon Herndon and sophomore Abby Clark followed with the next victory and finally, freshman Elaine Baik and Stephanie Rettig took the last match. This trend continued into the singles matches. Junior Andrea Berlinghof did not lose a game, wining 6-0. Krishnan also won her first two sets before her opponent retired. Freshman Kaitlin Pfistererwon her first two sets, each with a score of 6-2. Freshman Shannon Libaw only needed eight games to beat her opponent 8-0 at sixth. Senior Courtney Boger took a victory, 8-1 at fifth along with a similar victory coming from freshman Macie Wilkins.
With this victory over the Mules, the Blue Jays improved their record to 7-0 in the Centennial Conference, sitting alone in first place after ending the Mules’ own conference unbeaten mark.
The Jays are not simply squeaking by opponents either, rather they are dominating their Conference.
The Blue Jays have demonstrated their superiority in the Centennial Conference throughout the season and show no signs of slowing down.
Looking to build off of their conference dominance, the Blue Jays traveled to Pittsburgh to face fourth ranked Carnegie Mellon. Hopkins came out strong with a good performance in doubles play. Sophomore Hailey Hogan and junior Nandita Krishnan won at first doubles against the second rated pair in the country. Hopkins was defeated at second but freshman Elaine Baik and Stephanie Rettig earned an 8-4 victory at third. Coming out of doubles play, Hopkins took a 2-1 lead over Carnegie Mellon and looked to build on that going into singles play.However, Carnegie Mellon had other plans.
Carnegie Mellon went on to dominate the singles play for the afternoon, taking five of six matches. The Blue Jays were only able to take one match in the head-to-head battles and were unable to counter the Carnegie Mellon rally. They ultimately lost by the final score of 6-3.
The Blue Jays moved to 10-5 on the season while Tartans improved to 15-3.
Next up, Hopkins takes on Centennial rival Swarthmore on the Homewood campus.
