Fourth-ranked Chicago blanked the sixth-ranked Denison Big Red 5-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2011 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship Tournament from Claremont, Calif.  Denison ends the season with an 18-5 record while the Maroons advance to the NCAA semifinals on Wednesday (May 25).

Chicago took all three doubles matches to take a commanding 3-0 lead.  Linden Li and Carmen Vaca Guzman got the Maroons on the board with a dominating 8-1 victory over the young duo of Kelsey Geppner and Alex Marcell at No. 2 doubles.  The two-time defending national champs Kendra Higgins and Chrissy Hu took an early 6-1 lead on Kristin Cobb and Sarah Short en route to an 8-3 first singles win.  At the third flight, the two pairings rattled off four-straight break points to open the set.  Chicago's Aswini Krishnan and Jennifer Kung scored four-straight points to take a 7-3 advantage.  DU's Kate Westenberger and Jane Lent logged two-straight to trim the deficit before a break point gave Krishnan and Kung an 8-5 win.

In singles competition, the Maroons picked up straight-set victories at the third and sixth flights.  First-year Lilianna Broussalian jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the opening set at No. 6 singles.  Krishnan rebounded with three-straight points to take her first lead of the set.  With the score tied at 4-4, Krishnan rattled off two-consecutive tallies to take the opening set 6-4.  In set two, the Chicago junior opened with five-straight points en route to taking the set 6-1.

At third singles, Vaca Guzman held a 3-1 break-point advantage over Geppner en route to a 6-2 win in the first set.  Like her sixth-singles teammate, Vaca Guzman scored five-consecutive points to open the second set.  The Denison rookie battled back to tie the match at 5-5.  However, the Maroon junior rebounded with two-straight to take the set 7-5.

Tonight's match marked the seventh "Elite 8" appearance for the Big Red since the 2004 season.  Chicago (20-3) advances to the NCAA semifinals on Wednesday where they will take on second-ranked Williams (20-3) at 2 p.m. EDT.  The Ephs shut out host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in their quarterfinal match.

Cobb and Short will stay in Claremont, Calif. to compete in this weekend's doubles championship.  In addition, Cobb will also take part in the singles championship.  The Denison men's doubles team of Matt McErlean and Tyler Cempre will compete in the men's championship draw.