The 30th-ranked Denison women's tennis team posted a 1-1 record on the first day of the 2015 Midwest Invitational on Friday in Madison, Wis. The Big Red opened the two-day event with a 7-2 victory over Augustana. Later in the day, DU suffered a 7-2 setback to No. 11 Washington-St. Louis.
Against the Vikings, Denison used a clean sweep in singles play to secure the come-from-behind victory. After dropping two of the three doubles flights, DU went a perfect 6-for-6 in singles play. In the only meeting of regionally-ranked opponents, junior Taylor Hawkins defeated Lauren Goggin via 6-3, 6-0 scores at the top flight. At second singles, freshman Courtney Brown knocked off Lauren's twin sister, Dana Goggin, in straight sets (6-1, 7-5).
Junior Meg Chiumento was victorious over Mollie Magee at the third flight, 6-1, 6-0, while freshman Rochell Issa defeated Aileen MacDonald at No. 4 singles (6-2, 6-1). Sophomore Emily Holloway and freshman Carol Vitellas wrapped things up at fifth and sixth singles, respectively. Holloway defeated Miranda Pence (6-4, 6-2), while Vitellas picked up a win over Vicki Andonova (6-1, 6-2).
Holloway and senior Heather Abzug posted Denison's lone doubles win with an 8-1 decision over Pence and Andonova at the third flight. The victory was their ninth of the season.
Against the 11th-ranked Bears, the Big Red's two points came at the top two doubles flights. At No. 1 doubles, Hawkins and Chiumento picked up their biggest win of the season as they doubled up Rebecca Ho and Jamie Silverberg, the No. 4 team in the central region, 8-4. At the second flight, the freshman tandem of Brown and Issa handed Grace Deering and Hanna Newstadt their fourth loss of the season with a convincing 8-2 victory.
In singles play, the Bears won all six singles flights to secure the win. Hawkins and Brown both hung tough with a pair of top-15 singles players in the central region. The Denison junior suffered a 6-3, 6-2 setback to the No. 1 singles player in the region, Ho. Brown fell to Silverberg, who is ranked 11th in the region, via 6-1, 6-4 scores at second singles.
Denison (9-4) will close out the Midwest Invitational on Saturday. The Big Red will take on #22 Hope, who dropped an 8-1 decision to #15 Chicago, in a consolation semifinal held at the Cherokee Country Club at 8 a.m. CDT.
