Women's Tennis

Marta Drane (left) and Kristin Cobb (right) pose with their NCAA Division III Doubles runner-up awards. The duo made Denison history by becoming first doubles team to advance to the national championship match.

Denison's Kristin Cobb (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) and Marta Drane (Wilmington, Del./Tower Hill) dropped a 6-4, 6-3 decision to Amherst's Brittany Berckes and Alicia Menezes on Sunday afternoon in the finals of the 2008 NCAA Division III Doubles Championship.

Cobb and Drane defeated Carnegie Mellon's Amy Staloch and Jenny Chui in Sunday morning's semifinals to become the first doubles team in Denison history to advance to an NCAA championship match.

Berckes and Menezes, who entered the match as the No. 3 seed in the field of 16, defeated Emory's Tshema Nash and Sabra Rogers in three sets to move on to the finals.

The duo from Amherst won the opening set 6-4 and with Denison leading 3-2 in the second, they came alive and recorded four of the next five points to secure the 2008 Doubles National Championship.

The unprecedented run by Cobb and Drane capped off a historic week for the Denison women's tennis program.  On Thursday the Denison team defeated Pomona-Pitzer to secure a program-best, third place finish at the NCAA Division III team championships.

Drane, Cobb and Meghan Damico (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) remained in St. Peter to compete in the singles and doubles championships where Cobb advanced to the quarterfinals and then teamed with Drane for their blitz to the national runner-up podium.