PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Taking on a pair of teams that finished last season ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division III Women's Tennis National Rankings, the Christopher Newport women's tennis team suffered a pair of losses at the Carnegie Mellon Fall Invitational on Saturday. The Captains dropped a 6-3 decision to Case Western Reserve before falling victim to a 9-0 loss against the host Tartans. 

First up, in the morning match against Case Western Reserve, the Captains picked up a pair of doubles victories to take an early 2-1 lead. In singles, however, only one Christopher Newport player managed a win as the Captains fell in the come-from-behind victory for Case Western Reserve, 6-3. 

Case Western Reserve was ranked No. 34 in the final poll of 2018-19. 

In doubles action, Johanna Ranta-aho and Olivia Reed paired up for an 8-3 victory at No. 1 doubles against Madeleine Paolucci and Trisha Sundaram. Kara Ferner and Amanda Yermal added the second team point with a battle against Nicole Cardwell and Savannah Bright in the No. 2 matchup. Ferner and Yermal captured an 8-7 (7-4) win to put the Captains ahead 2-1. 

In singles action, Reed earned the lone win for the Captains with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Cardwell. 

The second match favored the home team throughout as Carnegie Mellon, who was ranked No. 7 in the final poll of 2018-19, shut out the Captains, 9-0. Ranta-aho had a solid showing by stretching her opponent, Danna Taylor, to a seventh game in the second set, but would ultimately drop her matchup 6-2, 7-5. 

Christopher Newport closes the fall season with the Saturday appearance and will now wait until February 9th to take the courts again. The Captains will open the spring portion of the schedule at home against Washington & Lee University at 10:00 am.