For a record ninth-consecutive season, the fifth-ranked Denison University women's tennis team took home the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship trophy. The Big Red won their NCAC record-setting ninth-straight championship following a 5-0 victory over Kenyon College on Saturday afternoon inside the Mitchell Center in Granville.
Entering the tournament, the Big Red and the Ladies (1986-1993) had both compiled a streak of eight-straight NCAC Championships. The win upped DU's string of titles to nine, and improved their overall count to 10 tournament crowns, second only to Kenyon who has captured 15 women's tennis titles.
The duo of senior Kara Zdanowski (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) and sophomore Erin Chadwell (Chicago, Ill./Traverse City Central) knocked off Eva Ceja and Amanda Polster, 8-1, at No. 2 doubles, while the first-year tandem of Jane Lent (Glenview, Ill./Cranbrook-Kingswood) and Alex Marcell (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) also logged an 8-1 victory at third doubles over Erin Ivanoff and Lydia Winkler. The victory was Marcell's 21st of the season and moved her into sole possession of first on DU's all-time single-season doubles victories list.
No. 1 doubles saw a clash of two regionally ranked doubles teams. Senior Marta Drane (Wilmington, Del./Tower Hill) and junior Kristin Cobb (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood), ranked third in the central region, took on the Ladies' Amy Schlessman and Prita Kidder, the fourth-ranked team in the region. The Big Red duo jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the match and never looked back as they completed the doubles sweep with an 8-3 decision.
Cobb returned to the court to take on Schlessman in a match up of regionally ranked singles players at second singles. Coming off an impressive three-set victory over Oberlin's Ariel Lewis less than 24 hours ago, Cobb, ranked 10th in the latest ITA regional rankings, won in straight sets (6-1, 6-2) over the 25th-ranked Schlessman. DU locked up the 2010 NCAC Tournament title thanks to a victory by Chadwell at the fourth flight. The sophomore knocked off Ceja by scores of 6-1 and 7-5.
Denison improves to 16-4 overall and has now won seven of their last eight matches, with their lone loss coming to Division I, Dayton. They will ride a four match winning streak into the 2010 NCAA Division III Championships which are scheduled to take place with regional competition on May 14-16 at a campus site to be determined.
