No. 13 Engineers Drop Narrow 5-4 Final to No. 6 Tufts

Recap, photo courtesy of MIT

THE BASICS:

- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (J.B. Carr Tennis Bubble)

- Score: No. 6 Tufts 5, No. 13 MIT 4

- Records: No. 13 MIT (6-1); No. 6 Tufts (7-2)

- The Lead: In a matchup of nationally-ranked teams on Friday evening, the No. 13 MIT women's tennis team dropped a narrow 5-4 home match to No. 6 ranked Tufts University in non-conference action.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

- The Jumbos took the top two doubles spots by scores of 8-4 and 8-2 before MIT grabbed the point at No. 3 as seniors Dora Tzeng (Fremont, Calif.) and Sonya Das (Arden Hills, Minn.) defeated Zoe Miller and Kat Wiley in an 8-4 final.

- Singles play was hard fought as the teams split the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches in a pair of three-set matches. At No. 1, MIT senior Elysa Kohrs (Half Moon Bay, Calif.) defeated Patricia Obeid in a 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 score. The Jumbos and Mina Karamercan picked up the No. 2 point as she defeated freshman Libby Rickeman (Wayzata, Minn.) 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.

- The Engineers and junior Kelly Zhu (Pearland, Texas) picked up the No. 3 point with a 6-2, 6-3 final over Lauren Louks, while the Jumbos captured the No. 4 and No. 5 singles matches. Freshman Marina Zhang (Garnet Valley, Pa.) continued her outstanding rookie season with a 6-4, 7-5 straight-set win over Wiley at the No. 6 singles position.

- The No. 1 singles match was a meeting between the No. 5 (Kohrs) and No. 6 (Obeid) ranked singles players in the region, while No. 2 matched No. 7 (Rickeman) vs. No. 9 (Karamercan). Louks from Tufts, who played No. 3, is also ranked No. 19 regionally. On the doubles side, Karamercan and Otilia Popa of Tufts are third in the region, while Kohrs and Rickeman are ranked No. 7 regionally.