Women's Tennis
Women's Tennis Takes down DePauw; Advances to NCAA Quarterfinals
Date: May 6, 2007
Location: GRANVILLE
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The third time was definitely a charm for the Denison women's tennis team on Sunday afternoon. In a rematch of the central region's two top-ranked teams in the third round of the 2007 NCAA Division III women's tennis championships, the Big Red dug down deep and earned a thrilling 5-3 victory over the DePauw University Tigers. The victory not only avenged two regular season losses to DePauw, but it assures the Big Red of a return to the nation's elite eight after a one year hiatus.
Denison junior Erin Gorsich (Dover, Ohio/Dover) clinched the victory for the Big Red with her three-set victory over Betsy Flanzer. Gorsich dropped the first set 2-6 but rallied to win sets two and three, 6-4, 6-1.
DePauw began the day in the drivers seat, having won two of the three doubles points. Liz Bondi and Amrita Padda knocked off Whitney Block (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) and Marta Drane (Wilmington, Del./Tower Hill) 8-5.
In #2 doubles, Meghan Damico (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) and Kendra Murray (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) downed Sallie Crawford and Greer Mackie, 9-7. In third doubles, the Tiger duo of Erin Andrade and Kristine Lewry defeated Denison's Carly Newman and Gorsich, 8-4.
The Big Red rallied back in a major way thanks to singles wins in each of the top-three flights. No win was bigger than Damico's No. 1 flight victory over the region's top-ranked player, Bondi, who entered the match on a 33 consecutive dual match singles win streak. This was just the second meeting between Damico and Bondi in singles play, with the DePauw senior prevailing 6-4, 6-4 on April 7 in the championship of the Midwest Invitational. On Sunday, the DU sophomore cemented her name among the elite in Division III tennis an impressive 6-4, 6-2 victory.
The win by Damico had a ripple effect on her teammates as Murray took care of Mackie at No. 3 singles, 6-2, 6-4 and Drane sank Padda at second singles, 6-2, 6-4.
DePauw's Kayla Smith kept the Tigers in the match with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Denison's Whitney Block but in the fifth and sixth flights Denison's Gorsich and Sarah Mitchiner (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) both held leads in the decisive third set with Gorsich's match ending first, forcing the 5-3 decision in favor of the Big Red.
Denison will now pack their bags and compete at the NCAA Quarterfinals for the third time out of the last four seasons. The BIg Red will take on Sewanee, a 5-4 winner versus Emory on Sunday, at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday (May 15) at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va.