FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – First-years
Allie Murrell and
Mary Kate Kahl rounded out their weekend at the ITA Southeast Region Championships on Monday with a semifinal finish in the doubles draw, before Murrell closed as a singles semifinalist.
DOUBLES SEMIFINALS (L, 2-8):
Kahl and Murrell opened the day in the regional doubles semifinal, but fell to Anna Chow and Shelly Zinchenko of Carnegie Mellon by an 8-3 score. The W&L duo held serve in the first game to take a 1-0 lead, but the Tartans countered by holding serve and breaking the Generals' next service game to move ahead, 2-1. After Kahl and Murrell responded with a service break of their own to tie the match at two games apiece, the Tartans rattled off five straight wins to take a 7-2 lead.
The Generals kept fighting and broke serve again in the 10th game to stay alive, down 7-3, but the Tartans closed out the match in the next game. The match saw four total deuce points, with the teams splitting two apiece. Out of the 11 games played, serve was held in only four, while each of the four deuce points in the match took place during CMU's service games.
SINGLES SEMIFINALS (L, 2-6, 2-6)
Murrell remained in action in the singles bracket, facing off against Sophia Kim of Johns Hopkins. Serve was broken in each of the first three games, putting Kim ahead by a 2-1 score, and Kim strung together four straight wins to build a 5-1 lead. Murrell, battling through an upper body injury, then held serve to get a game back, and it took Kim winning a deuce point in the eighth game to claim the first set.
Kim then opened a 3-0 lead in the second set, but Murrell bounced back to break Kim's serve and hold herself to get it back to a 3-2 deficit. After the switch, Kim closed out the match with three consecutive wins.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will be back in action on Saturday when they compete in three ODAC dual matches. The team will host Virginia Wesleyan at 10:00 a.m. and Randolph-Macon at 1:00 p.m., with a portion of the team hitting the road to face Hollins in Roanoke at 12:00 p.m.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
