WHITEWATER, Wis. – The No. 14-ranked Carleton College women's tennis team dropped a 5-0 contest against No. 13 Case Western Reserve University in the second round of the NCAA Championships.
 
Carleton (18-1) is now 56-4 (.933) overall spanning the last three seasons, with each setback coming against a nationally-ranked opponent, including losses to teams ranked No. 1, No. 1, and now No. 13 during the NCAA Championships.
 
"Great match today and CWRU played consistently the entire match," said Carleton head coach Luciano Battaglini. "Our team did the best we could but came up short on the important points. We are happy to have the opportunity to have another amazing season, and I'm very happy for this group of student-athletes."
 
Case Western Reserve (15-6) built a 3-0 lead by sweeping doubles and picked up the necessary victories to close out the match and punch the Spartans' ticket to the regional final against No. 3 University of Chicago. This was the first time all season, that Carleton fell behind after doubles.
 
Amelia Asfaw and Mary Hose, the No. 9-ranked duo in the Central Region, absorbed their first setback of the season, falling 8-4 at No. 1 doubles to Hannah Kassaie and Lily McCloskey, the No. 2 ranked pairing in the region and No. 4 in the country.
 
The Spartans added an 8-1 triumph at No. 2 as Katalina Wang and Radha Patel defeated Mariam Nechiporuk and Ingrid Smith, while the CWRU duo of Pallavi Goculdas and Anna Kan prevailed over Kat Smiricinschi and Ryann Witter by the same score at No. 3 doubles.
 
The singles matches were tighter tussles.
 
McCloskey, ranked No. 7 in the region, bested Hose, who is ranked No. 18 in the region, by a 6-4, 6-3 count at No. 2 singles. CWRU clinched the match with a victory at No. 6 singles as Asha Shukla force a second set tiebreaker then edged Witter by a 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) margin.
 
Three other singles matches were in the third set when play was halted.
 
Atop the lineup, Asfaw, ranked No. 15 in the region and owner of a 13-0 record this season, was battling Kassaie, ranked No. 2 in the region and No. 9 in the nation. The Carleton junior won the first set 6-4 before the Spartans' top player responded by taking the second set 6-2.
 
Nechiporuk and Miriam Shteyman bounced back after dropping the opening set of their matches at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively. The former trailed early in the final set against Wang 6-4, 3-6, 1-0, while the latter was in a similar spot, trailing 6-4, 2-6, 2-1 to Kan.
 
Case Western Reserve led at No. 5 singles, where Radha Patel, ranked No 13 in the region, held a 7-5, 5-2 advantage over Kiley Pickens.
 
Up Next for the Knights
While the team portion of the NCAA Championships has concluded for Carleton, the Knights have two players – Asfaw and Hose – headed to the NCAA Individual Championships to be held May 25-27 in St. Louis, Mo. Asfaw is 1 of 32 players selected to compete in the singles bracket, while Asfaw and Hose, who are now 13-1 on the season, will play in the 16-team doubles bracket.