SWARTHMORE, PA. - Suffering their first conference loss of the season, the No. 20 Swarthmore women's tennis team fell to No. 31 Johns Hopkins University by a score of 6-3 on Saturday, Mar. 1.
 
The Garnet struggled out of the gate, only winning one of three doubles matches to go down 1-2 to the Blue Jays. Unfortunately, despite some early success in singles play, Swarthmore could not turn the contest around, ultimately losing 6-3.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Doubles:
- Unable to keep pace with their JHU opponents, the Garnet lost in both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeded doubles matches, with the duos of sophomore Nathalie Williams/senior Crystal Xu and first year Kathleen Shiffer/senior Erica Stutz falling 8-4 and 8-7 respectively.

- Swarthmore's only win came in the No. 3 match, as the pair of junior Spencer Watts/junior Oviya Kumaran came out on top 8-5. With the win, the Garnet shrank their deficit to 2-1 going into singles. 

Singles:
- While Johns Hopkins grew their lead to 3-1 following a win in the No. 2 match to kick off singles play, Shiffer responded right back for the Garnet, winning 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 3 match to bring Swarthmore within one.

- Ever reliable in the No. 1 slot, Williams came through for the Garnet as well, felling her opponent 6-2, 6-2 to tie the match at 3-all.

- Unfortunately, Swarthmore could not maintain their momentum, as junior Jenny Lewis (6-3,5-7,1-0), first year Lola Diaz (6-1,7-5) and first year Lisa Messier (6-2,7-6) were all beaten, securing the Blue Jays a 6-3 win over the Garnet. 

UP NEXT
Traveling to Virginia for their final non-conference match of the season, the Garnet will take on Mary Washington College on Saturday, Apr. 8.