The University of Rochester women's tennis team kicked off a three-match weekend at home with a tightly-contested 6-3 loss against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Friday evening at the Goergen Athletic Center.
During Friday's match, the Engineers (8-4) earned a quick win at third doubles, with Prisha Rapur and Brooke Bauer winning 8-1 to grab the early lead over UR's
Jaclyn Dron and
Jasmin Toor.
The remaining two doubles matches were both evenly matched and were split decisions, both by 8-7 scores. RPI won at second doubles with Masha Karach and Lina Krumpel topping
Sahithi Mathukumilli and
Neha Dania.
At the top spot, Rochester's
Josephine Libby and
Sanjana Karnam, a regionally ranked duo, won by the same score to earn the Yellowjackets opening point.
As play switched to singles, the two teams swapped the opening four matches to make the score 4-3 in favor of RPI.
Krumpel topped Dron at #4 6-3, 6-0, but Toor responded for UR (4-9) with a win at number three, defeating Krisia Flores Gonzalez 6-3, 6-2.
While those matches were finishing up, Rapur was finalizing a win at number two over Karnam, winning by a 7-5, 6-4 score. In the number one spot in the order, Libby took on Lorna Flores Gonzalez and battled to a three-set win, earning a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
With the match hanging in the balance still, the #5 and #6 singles players for each side took the court.
RPI's Karach ended up securing the clinching point with a 6-2, 6-1 win at six over Mathukumilli. In the other three-set affair on Friday, Dania battled Bauer at five, with the RPI player posting a 2-6, 7-5, 10-6 victory to reach the ending 6-3 match score.
UR is right back in action on Saturday morning against St. Lawrence at 11 am.
