GRANVILLE, Ohio (April 20, 2023) – The Denison University women's tennis team is set to host the 2023 North Coast Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Tournament starting on Friday, April 21, and running through Sunday, April 23, at the Denison Tennis Courts. Last season under the direction of Head Coach Jamie Scott, the Big Red collected their first NCAC Championship since the 2016 season after defeating Kenyon College 5-3 in the championship match.

The Big Red, who are ranked No. 19 in the most recent Division III Women's ITA Collegiate Tennis National Rankings and are ranked fourth in the Central Region, will enter the tournament with an overall record of 15-5 overall and 5-1 in conference play, good enough to earn the No. 2 seed with their only conference loss coming to the top-seeded Kenyon.

It was the first time Denison reached 15 wins in the regular season since 2008 when they finished 22-4 overall, advanced to the NCAA semifinals and won the third-place match at the NCAA Championship.

The Big Red will now open up postseason play against the No. 7 seed, Ohio Wesleyan University, in the NCAC Quarterfinals, scheduled for a start time of 10:30 a.m. on Friday. Should Denison advance to the semifinals, they will play the winner between No. 3 Wittenberg University and No. 6 DePauw University.

2023 NCAC Women's Tennis Championship Seeds & Pairings

Kenyon (6-0 NCAC) has won its league-leading 20th North Coast Athletic Conference women's tennis championship after finishing the season with a perfect mark against league foes for the 23rd time overall. Denison has accumulated 13 NCAC championship titles (1994, 2002-11, '16, '22), while DePauw captured four-consecutive titles (2012-15) and Allegheny earned the inaugural conference championship in 1985.

The Big Red (5-1) finished second in the regular season standings, followed by Oberlin, Wittenberg and Wooster (3-3), DePauw (1-5) and Ohio Wesleyan (0-6). The three-way tie between Oberlin, Wittenberg and Wooster for spots 3-5 was broken via the conference tiebreaker system for seeding purposes only.

As league champions, Kenyon has earned the No. 1 seed and a bye in quarterfinal round of the 2023 NCAC Women's Tennis Tournament. The three-day, six-match, single-elimination tournament will be held at Denison University in Granville, Ohio this weekend, April 21-23. The tournament begins with quarterfinal matches on Friday, semifinal matches on Saturday and the championship match on Sunday.
 
The first quarterfinal match on Friday, Match C, will feature No. 7 Ohio Wesleyan and No. 2 Denison at 10:30 a.m. The other two quarterfinal matches are scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start with Match A featuring No. 5 Oberlin and No. 4 Wooster, while Match B is a contest between No. 6 DePauw and No. 3 Wittenberg.

On Saturday, the first semifinal match is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. with No. 1 Kenyon meeting the winner of Match A, while the winners of Match B and C will square off at 1:00 p.m. The championship match is set for 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.

The tournament winner receives the NCAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Scouting Ohio Wesleyan

Ohio Wesleyan finished the regular season 9-8 overall and 0-6 in conference play. The Battling Bishops lost their final match on Tuesday at DePauw, 9-0, to finish as the seventh and final seed in the conference tournament.

The Big Red swept OWU 9-0 during the regular season (Apr. 2). Denison is 53-4 all-time against Ohio Wesleyan and has won 35 straight matches against the Battling Bishops since the 1996 season.

2023 Denison Women's Tennis Lineup

Singles

1. Sydney Cianciola (11-9)
2. Sarah Robertson (14-9)
3. Monique Brual (8-9)
4. Caroline Lopez (14-7)
5. Peyton Oda (15-11)
6. Caroline Kittle (3-3)
7. Kendall Schrader (2-1)
8. Sofia Zafiropulos (9-5)
9. Elizabeth Hoo (10-3)
10. Hannah Quick (6-1)
11. Alessandra Ceccarelli (6-0)
12. Anna Leach (7-1)
13. Kennedy Herring (7-1)

Doubles

1. Sydney Cianciola/Sarah Robertson (15-8)
2. Monique Brual/Caroline Lopez (13-7)
3. Peyton Oda/Kendall Schrader (6-2)
4. Elizabeth Hoo/Sofia Zafiropulos (0-0)

Player Rankings

• Sydney Cianciola is currently the No. 11-ranked singles player in the Central Region while Sarah Robertson is No. 16.
• Sydney Cianciola and Sarah Robertson are also the No. 4-ranked doubles pair in the Central Region.

Record Book Watch

• Denison's 15 wins so far this season are tied for the most in Head Coach Jamie Scott's six seasons leading the Big Red (finished 15-8 in 2022).
• Freshman Peyton Oda (15-11 in singles; 18-6 in doubles) is one win away from cracking the top-26 for most singles wins in one season in program history, and is two doubles wins away from ranking in the top-28 in program history for doubles wins in a single season.
• Senior Sarah Robertson is tied for No. 21 on Denison's all-time singles career wins list (44-32) and is No. 16 for both all-time doubles career wins (52-22) and combined career wins (96-54).
• Senior Sydney Cianciola ranks No. 17 on Denison's all-time double career wins list (49-21).
• Senior Monique Brual ranks No. 25 on Denison's all-time combined career wins list (84-51) and is tied for No. 18 on the double career wins list (48-22).

2023 Denison Tournament Central
2023 NCAC Tournament Page
2023 NCAC Women's Tennis Standings