CLEVELAND, Ohio -- On Friday, the Kenyon College women's tennis team took a trip up north to kick off the first of two straight tough matchups against ranked opponents. The No. 22-ranked Owls (8-4) competed against the hosting Case Western Reserve University Spartans at Mayfield Village Racquet Club in Mayfield, Ohio, No. 16 CWRU's home facility. Kenyon could not keep the hosts from winning the matchup, but the Owls showed a strong fighting spirit that they can build upon going forward after the 4-3 defeat.

Kenyon got off to a great start, winning the day's first doubles match. Shadia Amado Aguad and Clare Hudson helped the Owls build early momentum with a dominant 6-1 win in the No. 2 bout, the duo's eighth straight doubles victory. However, the Spartans struck back with two straight 6-2 victories in the remaining matchups, clinching the best-of-three doubles point to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven dual.

CWRU doubled its lead to 2-0 after a straight-set win in the No. 4 singles match, where Asha Shukla handed Hana Nouaime a 6-4, 6-2 loss. After that early entry into the scorebooks, three tightly contested matchups at the top of the lineup all wrapped up in quick succession.

The top three bouts featured two matches that went the full three sets and another that required a tiebreak in a tight straight-set sweep. Eleni Lazaridou led Kenyon's lineup with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory in the top singles contest, battling back from deficits of 2-0 and 4-3 in the first set to win. 

Unfortunately for the Owls, the Spartans came out on the right end of the two three-set battles, clinching the dual with two more points. At No. 2, Laurel Utterback bounced back from Ana Brand's first-set victory to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Amado Aguad forced a third set after dropping the first, but Katalina Wang ultimately won 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

Despite the dual being decided, the Owls continued to fight in the final two matches. The Nos. 4 and 6 matchups also went three sets, marking a whopping four three-set singles battles. Hudson and Lalasa Nagireddy both fought to the end, and the duo closed the dual with a pair of gritty wins to push the final score to 4-3.

At No. 4, Hudson started out with a 6-3 win before Anna Kan forced a third set. The third set lasted long after everyone else was done, and Hudson hung on for a hard-fought 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) victory, her eighth straight singles win.

Nagireddy also extended a singles winning streak, securing a seventh straight victory after an impressive comeback at No. 6. The senior fell 6-4 against Elsa Syed to open the match, but Nagireddy won back-to-back close contests to come all the way back and win 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (11-9).

Up next, Kenyon has another battle on deck, this time against No. 15-ranked Bowdoin College. The Owls and Polar Bears will square off at 1 p.m. tomorrow, March 29.