The women's tennis team destroyed the competition this past week when they beat both Washington College (10-3, 5-2) and Bryn Mawr College (3-13, 0-7).
In a highly-anticipated conference match-up, the 19th-ranked women's tennis team soundly thrashed Washington with a match score of 5-2 on Tuesday, April 8 to mark its 17th-straight Centennial Conference win. They then travelled to Bryn Mawr three days later to shut out the Lady Owls 9-0. With the two wins, Hopkins improved their record to 11-1 overall and 8-0 in the conference.
In the match against Washington, where the doubles teams were the main focus, the Lady Jays did their job and aced the competition. Doubles team junior Brittany Matava and sophomore Anita Bhamidipati improved their record to 6-0, when they beat out Carrie Palmer and Mary Kelly 8-0 at first. At third, Hopkins freshman Abby Dwyer and junior Debbie Blass went on to triumph over Kate Barston and Kristen Hossick 8-1. Sophomore Ellen Berlinghof and freshman Yasmine Elamir capped off the doubles matches with a 9-7 win
over Lydia Bull and Allison Daciek.
At first singles, Washington's Daciek made the overall score of the match to 3-1 with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Matava. Bhamidipati's win put any thoughts of a come-back attempt for Washington to rest, when she improved her record to 15-2 on the season with a 6-0, 6-1 win at second over Shore woman Rebecca Davis. Elamir then clinched the match for the Blue Jays with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Palmer at third. This was Elamir's 11th-straight win and it moved her to 13-1 overall. At fourth, Dwyer dropped a 6-3, 6-4 match to Hossick. Disappointingly, the final two singles matches of the day, were called due to darkness . Both were in the third set.
The win over Washington was an extremely important one, and it definitely set the stage for the Bryn Mawr match that would take place only a few days later, carrying with it hopes of coming back to Baltimore with a win. Following some comments about last week's performance, senior Stephanie Carr added another to the team's continuing success.
"I think that we can attribute our success to our efforts to remain focused with the time that we have on the court," she said, also explaining that spring can be a tough time of year to get some good workouts in. "Due to weather, our court time can be limited. So with the encouragement of our coach, we do our best to make sure we maximize our use of the courts with drills focused on specific problem shots and tons of practice matches."
As the ladies headed north to Bryn Mawr, it was definitely clear that their dedication to practice would pay off. The Lady Jays came out victoriously, marking the fifth consecutive shutout of Bryn Mawr.
Hopkins soundly swept all three doubles matches to take a 3-0 lead right out of the shotgun. Bhamidipati and Mataya teamed up once again to beat Karen Ginsburg and Marie Sager 8-3 at first. The Elamir/Berlinghof combination at second shut out the competition, beating Leah Raj and Anna Dejdar 8-0. Freshman Abby Dwyer and sophomore Amanda Schubert won the final doubles match of the day, by a score of 8-1 over April Lee and Melissa Mansh.
In the singles matches, the Jays put one last nail in the Bryn Mawr coffin when they swept all six matches in straight sets. Bhamidipati won at first and her ninth-straight match with a 6-2, 6-2 wins over Ginsburg. Matava improved her season record to 17-7 with 6-0, 6-0 wins over Mimi Nguyen at second. Elamir lost only one game while beating Sager at third to add another tick mark under the "W" column for her, making it 12 straight. Her teammate, Dwyer, also only lost one game on the day, winning at fourth over Mansh.
Winning her 10th match of the season with a 6-1 win over Lee, Schubert was at fifth. Bringing up the rear was Berlinghof, when she beat Marianne Leung without losing a game to make her record 12-4 for the year.
This coming week, Hopkins will head to Westminster, Md. to face conference rivals McDaniel College (0-8, 0-8) on April 16. McDaniel has been win-less so far this season, and the Lady Jays intend on keeping it that way. On April 19, Hopkins then hosts Ursinus College at Homewood. Ursinus is 6-8 on the season and 1-7 in the conference. Both matches should be interesting. The end of the season is quickly approaching, and the Jays have their eyes on that national title.
