Rao claims first place at ITA SE Regionals

The Hopkins women’s tennis team played in the ITA Southeast Regional this weekend and had historic success. The Lady Jays, who had never won more than three draws in a regional championship, were able to win five draws, including the championship singles draw.

In the championship singles draw, sophomore Ashnaa Rao, seeded seventh, carried herself to the title to become the first ITA Southeast Regional Champion in Hopkins history. Rao was dominant in her performance, losing just one set in all her six matches.

“My only strategy entering the tournament was to stick to playing the way I know I am capable of and staying true to my game style,” Rao said.

Freshman Megumi Chen and senior Elaine Baik both made it to the quarterfinals before taking tough defeats. In Baik’s quarterfinals match, the body fatigue from her previous matches had caught up to her, but even in defeat, she maintained her positive attitude that brought her the success in the tournament.

“Since I am a senior and it was my last ITA tournament, I really just brought the mentality, from beginning to end, that I was going to be positive and never give up,” Baik said.

In the finals match, Rao faced teammate sophomore Jody Law. Rao managed to defeat Law 6-2, 6-2.

“She is not an easy opponent to face,” Rao said. “She is very consistent and has a strong head and heart, but I just stuck to my game, staying aggressive throughout the match and managed to pull it out.”

Not only did Law play in the main singles draw as an unseeded player, but she also won the Blue 1 doubles draw with junior Olivia Kasten. After cruising to the finals, the Hopkins duo managed to come out on top from a tough match, winning 9-8 (2).

Law and Kasten maintain a great friendship off the court, which gives them an edge during the matches as well. According to Kasten, their communication is one of their greatest strengths as a duo.

“I think my net game and Jody’s ground strokes really proved to be a defining factor in our execution and acted as a steady platform for us to build our game off of,” Kasten said.

In the Blue 1 singles draw, sophomore Savannah de Montesquiou coasted all the way to the title, giving up ten games in her three matches. De Montesquiou won two titles this tournament, also winning the Blue 2 doubles draw with senior Shannon Libaw. With de Montesquiou’s skills on the net and Libaw’s baseline game, the duo was able to go all the way to the title without a major threat.

“Our opponents were solid,” Libaw said. “They gave us a tough time because they were really consistent and made us work for every point. In terms of playing them, our strategy was just to play our games and just try to be aggressive without over hitting.”

In the Blue 2 singles draw, Lady Jay sophomores Mikey Barthelmass and Anna Kankanala found themselves in the finals, in which Barthelmass prevailed by a tight score of 4-6, 6-0, 10-2.

“My game plan was to be patient and attack the opponent’s backhand until I get the perfect shot to put away,” Barthelmass said.

With the end of the ITA Championship, the fall season for the women’s tennis team is officially over. The ITA tournament is played over three days, in which the players are bound to go through much fatigue, both physically and mentally. The Lady Jays showed their perseverance in their historic five draw wins. There were also two all-Hopkins finals for the first time in program history.

“The entire Hopkins tennis team did spectacular[ly],” Baik said. “I am so proud of everyone that competed in the tournament and fortunate to have such supportive teammates.”