INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.-- The Kenyon College women's tennis team opened its spring season by heading to Indianapolis for a natural-site matchup against Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday afternoon. The No. 21-ranked Owls picked up a statement win by knocking off the No. 1-ranked NCAA Division III doubles team, but the No. 6-ranked Bears bested the Owls 5-2 In the dual.

Despite falling in their season-opening dual, the Owls started the day with an impressive doubles win that showed why Kenyon is amongst the nation's best. Junior Eleni Lazaridou, making her return to the court after studying abroad in the fall, paired with first-year Hana Nouaime in the top doubles spot, and the duo upended a WashU pairing of Eleanor Archer and Caitlin Bui ranked as the country's best DIII doubles team in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) doubles rankings.

Lazaridou and Nouaime won 6-4 to even the doubles results at 1-1 after Amber Edmonds and Sam Slowik beat Maggie Shope and Lalasa Nagireddy 6-4 in the No. 3 matchup. A third 6-4 score decided which team would clinch the best-of-three doubles point, and it was WashU's Ally Lin and Eliana Hanna who upended Shadia Amado Aguad and Clare Hudson to put the Owls in a 1-0 deficit heading into singles play.

The Bears took care of business in singles, picking up four of the first five wins to clinch the dual. Edmonds beat Shope at No. 6 before Hanna beat Nouaime at No. 3 to put the Owls on the brink, but Hudson helped stave off elimination with a crucial win in the No. 4 bout. The first-year picked up a straight-set sweep, winning 6-1, 6-3 over Nina Moravek.

The win did not spark a Kenyon comeback, however, as WashU secured the victory with wins in the top two singles matches. Archer beat Amado Aguad 6-2, 6-3 in a matchup of players ranked No. 16 and No. 17 in the Central Region before Bui beat Lazaridou 7-5, 6-2 in the top spot. Finally, in the No. 5 singles match, Nagireddy fell to Lin, the No. 45-ranked DIII singles player, 7-5, 6-4.

Kenyon has a quick turnaround as the team starts its season with back-to-back tough matchups in Indianapolis. Tomorrow morning at 11:15 a.m., the Owls will face off against the University of Chicago, the No. 1 team in the DIII standings.