ORLANDO, Fla. - In its final match of Spring Break play at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, the Haverford College women's tennis team (2-3) was defeated by a tough opponent in No. 11 Carnegie Mellon (13-3), as the Tartans came away with an 8-1 decision on Friday morning. 

In doubles action, Haverford began with the upper hand as the team of Ellie Esterowitz and Mimi Lavin made quick work of the Manuela Van Cotthem/Bin Zheng pairing of the Tartans, registering a methodical 8-3 win as Haverford went ahead in the overall match, 1-0, with the triumph at the second doubles flight. The victory was notable as although not ranked as a doubles pairing, both Van Cotthem and Zheng are ranked regionally in the Atlantic South singles grouping.

Carnegie Mellon battled back to take the first and third flights, as a regionally-ranked pairing of Danna Taylor and Crystal Zhou got past Rachael Fitzgerald and Abbey Russano at the top flight, 8-6, while Anna Chow and Divya Venkatarama registered the win over the Abhishree Menon/Summer Williams duo, 8-5. 

Moving into singles, Russano was blanked by Sarah Yang in the first match to finish at number one, while Venkatarama got past Williams 6-1, 6-0 at the fifth flight. The match was then clinched at fours as Van Cotthem took down Fitzgerald (6-1, 6-2). Taylor then posted a victory over Esterowitz (6-2, 6-2) at number two, Crystal Zhou got past Lavin (6-2, 6-1) at threes, and Anika Joshi was victorious over Erika Phanord at number six (6-2, 6-1). In total four of Carnegie Mellon's six singles players on Friday were regionally ranked competitors. 

Haverford now returns home to the Philadelphia area, and will be right back in action on Wednesday hosting the home opener against No. 25 Division II Wilmington (Del.). The match is slated to begin at 4 p.m. as the Fords do battle with the undefeated (12-0) Central Athletic Collegiate Conference champions in a rare interdivision test.