Story by Mitch Blankespoor
GAMBIER, Ohio – Coming off of a victory at regionally-ranked Hope College Tuesday, the Kalamazoo College women's tennis team made it two-straight road wins with a 6-3 win over regionally-ranked Kenyon College 6-3 Saturday, April 5.
Ranked as the No. 8 doubles team in the Central Region by itatennis.com, senior Jenna Riehl and sophomore Sarah Woods won the first doubles flight 8-0. Sophomore Ania Latala and freshman Sabrina Dass won third singles 8-5 while senior Kelsey Moran and junior Cheryl Zhang fell 8-3 at second doubles.
Kalamazoo took a 4-2 match lead when the Hornets won the first two singles matches to come off of the court. Moran defeated Lauren Hoffman 7-6(3), 6-2 at third singles while Dass won 6-4, 6-3 at fourth singles.
Just as in the Hope match, it was Riehl who clinched the match for Kalamazoo. The St. Joseph native defeated Jenna Murray 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. Woods, ranked No. 1 in the Central Region, defeated No. 15 Taylor Diffley 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 at first singles.
Latala and Zhang fell in straight sets and fifth and sixth singles respectively.
"We showed a lot of toughness and beat a very good Kenyon team today," Kalamazoo Head Coach Mark Murphy said. "Our seniors were the story today. Jenna Riehl and Kelsey Moran clinched the match for us."
Kalamazoo, ranked No. 11 in the Central region, improves to 9-2 on the season. The Hornets will play again tomorrow (Sunday) at Oberlin. The match is slated to start at 10:00 a.m.