Men and women’s tennis are undefeated in all 27 matches: triumphing over Robert Morris on Sunday

The Carnegie Mellon men’s and women’s tennis teams had a terrific weekend in the second week of their spring season, going undefeated in all 27 matches played. The men defeated Division II West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats on Saturday and Division I Robert Morris on Sunday, and the women triumphed over Robert Morris on Sunday, as well.
The men’s team began the weekend on the right foot, defeating West Virginia Wesleyan to improve its season record to 5–1. The Tartans, ranked 14th in the nation in Division III tennis, swept the Bobcats across the board to complete their second undefeated match of the season.
Senior Andrew Clearfield and sophomores James Muliawan, Jon Spero, and Ravi Raghavan all were victorious in their singles matches with Spero overcoming a first-set loss before coming back and winning in three sets.
Muliawan later teamed up with fellow sophomore Nikola Ljuboja to defeat the Bobcats number-one doubles team 8–4.
“I think we played pretty well this weekend,” Muliawan said. “As a team I think we could have played better doubles. Personally, I would have liked to hit my first serves more often and I would like to hit with a little more depth.”
Muliawan has set high goals for himself and the team this season as well. “As a team, we can definitely improve our national ranking to around eighth this year,” he said. “For myself, I would like to get to seventh in doubles and 20th in singles. I want the team to do well, and then anything else is a bonus.”
Raghavan went on to partner with first-year Bobby MacTaggart, who also won a singles match earlier in the day; the two won at number-two doubles, 8–2. First-year Alex Nemerov was the last to have a double dose of matches Saturday, following up his 6–1, 6–1 singles victory with an 8–2 win at number-three doubles with junior Yiran Liu.
The men’s team hosted the Robert Morris Colonials and emerged victorious Sunday, sweeping each position yet again to improve to 6–1 on the year.
Muliawan, Nemerov, Clearfield, MacTaggart, and Spero all won their second singles matches of the weekend with none of the players giving up more than six games to their opponents.
Liu played in the final singles spot, splitting sets with his opponent before shutting him out 6–0 in the final set.
Carnegie Mellon’s number-one doubles team of Ljuboja and Muliawan won for the second time this weekend as well, bettering Colonials duo Paganetti and Curley 8–5. Clearfield and MacTaggart teamed up to win at number-two doubles 8–4, and Raghavan and Nemerov completed the sweep by winning 8–3 at number-three doubles.
The Carnegie Mellon women’s tennis team enjoyed a successful weekend as well, beating Robert Morris 9–0 Sunday. The Tartans gave up just five games to the visiting Colonials in winning 76–5 in total games to improve to 4–2 in dual play. Senior Amy Staloch joined sophomore Alisa Liebowitz and first-years Jennifer Chui, Danielle Rosenfeld, Brooke Loar, and Ashley Herrick in sweeping the singles positions. In addition, Liebowitz, Loar, and Rosenfeld all “double bageled” their opponents, 6–0, 6–0. Herrick joined up with first-year Kelly Hart and Loar with junior Kelly Nakamura to win both of their doubles matches by a combined score of 16–1. Rosenfeld and Liebowitz won number-three doubles by default.
Though the team dominated the courts Sunday, newcomer Kelly Hart stressed the importance of staying determined.
“It was a good match. They are a Division I team, so it’s a good win, but even when we knew we would win, it is important to stay focused on the match and play well,” she said. “We were able to try a bunch of new formations too.”
Both tennis teams have a break before their next matches two weeks from now at Kenyon College, Saturday, Feb. 23.