ORLANDO, Fla. – The Carleton College women's tennis team dropped a 7-0 result to Hillsborough Community College, the No. 1-ranked team in the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association). The setback drops the Knights to 7-2 on the season.
 
The Hawks (8-3) played their last three matches against NCAA Division I programs and featured a lineup of players from Austria, Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland, Republic of Korea, and Spain in addition to Florida.
 
HCC swept doubles, with Kat Smiricinschi and Miriam Shteyman coming closest to win before falling 6-4 at the third slot. Sydney Stark and Catherine Goldman won 6-2 at No. 1 doubles and Younsoo Cho and Aisulu Zhobolat prevailed 6-0 at No. 2 doubles.
 
The Hawks won all six singles matches in straight sets. Goldman, the NJCAA national runner up last season, registered a 6-4, 6-1 victory in her No. 1 singles match against Amelia Asfaw. Stark, the top ranked singles player in the Florida Region earned a 6-2, 6-4 win over Mariam Nechiporuk at the second slot.
 
Shteyman dropped the No. 3 singles contest to Zhobolat by a 6-0, 6-4 tally, while Kiley Pickens absorbed her first singles loss of the season, falling 6-1, 6-0 to a regionally-ranked opponent at the fourth spot in the lineup.
 
Cho and Salomea Jascizek, another regionally-ranked singles player, completed the sweep for the Hawks with wins at No. 5 and No. 6 singles as they topped Ryann Witter and Piper Brown 6-3, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-1.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton closes out the competition portion of its Spring Break trip with an 8:30 a.m. ET match against Union College.