Women's Tennis
Women's Tennis: Denison Captures Midwest Invitational Crown
Kendra Murray's victory over Kristine Lewry clinched the Midwest Invitational Championship for Denison on Saturday. DU defeated the nation's 13th and 5th ranked teams to win the title.
Date: April 5, 2008
Location: MADISON, Wis.
The Denison women's tennis team defeated Gustavus-Adolphus, 5-4 and DePauw University, 5-3 on Saturday to capture the 2008 Midwest Invitational Championship held at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wis.
Denison entered the highly competitive field ranked sixth in the latest Division III top-30 poll. They were also the second-ranked team in the central region, trailing only DePauw University who defeated Denison 5-4 on March 1.
Denison and DePauw both received bye's into the quarterfinals where the Big Red dispatched Coe College 5-1 and the Tigers handled Wisconsin Whitewater, 9-0. In today's semifinal round Denison was pitted against 13th ranked Gustavus. Thanks to a win by Erin Gorsich and Kara Zdanowski in No. 3 doubles and a third set super tiebreaker victory by Kristen Cobb at No. 2 singles the Big Red advanced to the finals for the second consecutive season.
This time Denison would take the upper hand, winning first and second doubles behind an 8-3 win by Marta Drane and Kristen Cobb and a 8-2 victory by Meghan Damico and Kendra Murray. In singles play DePauw's Janelle Arita knocked off Damico at No. 1 singles but Cobb, Drane and Murray were there to pick up the slack and lock up the championship.
After the string of key regional victories the Big Red should continue to move up in the national rankings. The next set of national rankings will be released on April 15.
Results vs. DePauw [htm]