May 10, 2009
Box Score
PITTSBURGH, PA - The 10th-ranked Johns Hopkins women's tennis team saw its season end at the hands of sixth-ranked Carnegie Mellon Sunday afternoon in the NCAA Sweet 16. The Blue Jays had their school-record 13-match win streak come to an end as they close the season at 14-4. The Tartans improve to 21-2 on the season and advance to the quarterfinals where they will face the winner of the DePauw-Chicago match.
The Tartans took an early 2-1 lead in the match with wins at first and second doubles. Laura Chen and Ashley Herrick picked up the first point for CMU with an 8-5 win at first over senior Brittany Matava (Denver, CO/Littleton) and freshman Carolyn Warren (Boulder, CO/Fairview). Courtney Chin and Kelly Hart pushed the lead to two with an 8-5 win at second over junior Anita Bhamidipati (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Egg Harbor Township) and sophomore Yasmine Elamir (Saddle River, NJ/Heritage Academy (SC)). Hopkins picked up its first point at third doubles, cutting the deficit to 2-1 heading into singles. Junior Ellen Berlinghof (Dresher, PA/Upper Dublin) and sophomore Abby Dwyer (Stuart, FL/Jensen Beach) beat Amanda Wu and Jennifer Chui 8-4 for their 20th win of the season, tying the school single-season record.
Cze-Tam pushed the Tartans lead to 3-1 with a straight sets win at fifth singles, beating Dwyer 6-1, 6-1. Matava cut the deficit back to one with a win at fourth. She beat Chui 6-1, 6-4 for her 72nd career singles win. Matava concludes her career as Hopkins all-time wins leader in singles (72), doubles (59) and total wins (131). Wu pushed CMU's lead back to two with a 6-3, 6-1 win at second over Bhamidipati. Chen then closed out the match and clinched the win for CMU with a 6-3, 6-4 win at first over Warren.
Hopkins posted its fifth consecutive double-digit win season in 2008-09, won its third consecutive Centennial Conference title and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the second straight year. In the 31 years prior to head coach
Chuck Willenborg's arrival, the Blue Jays had won 10 or matches in a single season just four times. Willenborg is the winningest coach in program history with 74 wins, more than double the amount of any previous head coach.
