Altamonte Springs, Fla. – The No. 17 Washington University in St. Louis women's tennis team defeated No. 14 Carnegie Mellon 5-3 on Thursday morning in the opening round of the 2023 UAA Tennis Championships.
 
The Bears will play second-seeded Emory in the semifinals tomorrow at 12:30 p.m.
 
Karen Gao and Eliana Hanna got things going for WashU with an 8-2 win over Crystal Zhou and Danna Taylor at first doubles.
 
Carnegie's team of Manuela Van Cotthem and Divya Venkatarama defeated Katherine Johnston and Amber Edmonds 8-6 at second doubles to make the match score even at 1-1.
 
Ainsley Heidbreder and Nina Moravek defeated Zoe Angell and Anna Chow 8-7 (7-3) at third doubles to give the Bears a 2-1 edge.
 
Johnston picked up the first win for WashU in singles action, defeating Van Cotthem 6-3, 6-2 at fourth singles. Edmonds then defeated Venkatarama 6-4, 7-5 at fifth singles and Sophie Huynh locked in the match with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 win at sixth singles over Anika Joshi.
 
Hanna lost to Taylor 6-2, 6-3 at second singles and Moravek fell to Zhou 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 at third singles. Gao and Sarah Yang's match at first singles went unfinished as the Bears clinched the match.