PASADENA, Calif. – Tuesday afternoon at the Caltech Tennis Courts featured a cross-country clash of leading STEM school women's tennis programs as the national No. 12 MIT Engineers came to town to battle the No. 27 Caltech Beavers, "nature's engineers."

"Today's match was a great way to celebrate elite tennis and women in STEM," Head Coach Benay Weintraub said. "On both sides of the net, these young women dedicate so much to their teammates, world renowned research and having fun."

The highly-anticipated matchup opened up with some intense doubles matches as the guests took control early on, Caltech's duo of Payal Patel (Cumming, Ga. / South Forsyth) and Hannah Ramsperger (Zürich, Switzerland / Realgymnasium Rämibühl Zürich) came the closest to putting the Beavers on the scoreboard but falling 8-5.

The Cambridge, Mass. squad continued their barrage in singles session but Caltech found success on the back courts. Sophomore Anna Szczuka (Scotch Plains, N.J. / Scotch-Plains Fanwood) took her rival to an extended tiebreak in the opening set, ending with scores of 7-6 (10-8) and 6-3.

Patel bounced back after a close opening set for a 5-7, 6-2 split before winning her 10-point tiebreaker by a 10-8 margin to deny the Engineers a sweep.

"We had a tough non-conference schedule, and I'm happy with the way we competed and grew," Coach Weintraub said. "We are excited to finish the season strong as we enter SCIACs!"

The Beavers open conference play this weekend against the hard-hitting Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas, with the match scheduled for Saturday subject to change due to rain in the weather forecast. Follow Caltech Women's Tennis on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), and keep an eye on GoCaltech.com for updates.