ORLANDO, FL – 20th-ranked Denison University upended the University of Rochester women's tennis team by a 7-2 score to open the teams spring break trip in Florida on Sunday afternoon at the USTA National Campus.
UR's wins came from
Jaclyn Dron and
Jasmin Toor at third doubles and
Josephine Libby at the top singles slot in the playing order.
In doubles, the Big Red (3-5) opened with an 8-3 win at number two from Kendall Schrader and Caroline Lopez over UR's
Neha Dania and
Lauren Kallas.
Dron and Toor leveled the match with an 8-5 win at three over Elizabeth Hoo and Peyton Oda.
The final doubles match at number one was a back-and-forth affair between UR's Libby and
Sanjana Karnam against Maia Nowicki and Dasha Chistyakova. The tight contest ended up going to the Denison duo by an 8-7 score, with Nowicki and Chistyakova winning the tiebreak 8-6 to grab the lead heading into singles.
Denison's bottom of the singles lineup ended up clinching the match with straight set wins at five, six and four. Nowicki defeated Dania 6-1, 6-0 and Schrader followed with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Dron to put the Big Red within one of clinching the match. Lopez earned the fifth and deciding point with her 6-2, 6-0 win over Toor.
At number two, Karnam battled Oda, but fell by a 6-2, 6-2 decision before Libby picked up Rochester's singles win at number one, defeating Caroline Kittle 6-2, 6-3. The final match saw Kallas take the opening set 6-4 over Chistyakova, but was forced to retire in the second set trailing 5-0.
Rochester is back in action on Monday against Division II Bentley University.
