Owls drop match to top-ranked Athenas

Box Score CLAREMONT, Calif. – After a cancellation and postponement delayed the last two matches for the No. 18 Kenyon College women's tennis team, the Owls were back in action on Friday afternoon for a top-20 face-off against the No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges Athenas.

Despite extending half of the six singles matches to a third set, the Owls could not capitalize, falling 8-1.

Kenyon captured its sole victory of the afternoon in the No. 1 doubles match, where the sophomore duo of Eleni Lazaridou and Allaire Berl defeated the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps No. 1 team handedly, 8-1, to put the Owls on the scoreboard. However, the rest of the doubles portion did not fare the same way.

The No. 2 team of Eleni Dakos and Shadia Amado Aguad and the No. 3 team of Ana Brand and Lalasa Nagireddy both lost 8-5 in their respective matches, allowing the Athenas to take a 2-1 lead after the doubles matches concluded.

After winning the top doubles match, Kenyon (1-3) did not see much success in the singles portion of the match, as Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (7-0) captured wins in straight sets in the No. 2, No. 4, and No. 5 matches. Berl fell to her opponent 6-1, 6-3, Dakos was defeated 6-3, 6-3, and Brand was taken down 6-2, 6-2, as the Athenas' lead was now 5-1.

The final three matches of the day went into a tie-breaking third set, but the Owls were unable to come away winners in any of them. In all matches, the Athenas captured the first set, the Owls came flying back in the second, but then fell short in the third.

In the No. 1 match, Lazaridou dropped the first set 6-2, battled back for a 6-4 winner, but could not complete the comeback, falling in the tiebreaker, 10-2. A similar scenario played out in the No. 3 match, as Amado Aguad fell 6-4 in set one, won 6-4 in set two, but again was bested in the tiebreaker, 10-3. In the final match, chronologically, Nagireddy was defeated 6-3 to open the match, won the second 6-4, but, for a third time, could not win the final set to complete the 8-1 final.

The loss drops the Owls' season-long record to 1-3. Kenyon will conclude its California trip on Tuesday, March 12 against No. 12 Sewanee at 2:00 pm EST (11:00 am PST) from Malibu, California.

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Players Mentioned

Eleni Dakos: Junior

Lalasa Nagireddy: Sophomore

Shadia Amado Aguad: First-Year

Eleni Lazaridou: First-Year

Allaire Berl: First-Year

Ana Brand: First-Year

Players Mentioned

Eleni Dakos
: Junior

Lalasa Nagireddy
: Sophomore

Shadia Amado Aguad
: First-Year

Eleni Lazaridou
: First-Year

Allaire Berl
: First-Year

Ana Brand
: First-Year