GAMBIER, Ohio — The No. 10-ranked Southwestern women's tennis team wrapped up its most successful regular-season road trip, upsetting the No. 4-ranked Kenyon College Ladies 5-2 a day after defeating No. 12 Denison to end the weekend with its two highest-ranked wins in program history.
No. 10-ranked doubles team Alli Ziehm and Emma Kesterson opened with a convincing 8-2 victory over Natalie Connelly and Erika Pontillo in No. 2 doubles. Then, Taylor Despriet and Sydney Wahl secured Southwestern's double advantage with an 8-5 win over Anna Winslow and Lalasa Nagireddy in No. 3 doubles.
Kenyon broke through with an 8-4 win when Daria Beshentseva and Eleni Dakos bested Southwestern's No. 19-ranked Nina Mitrofanova and Lydia Lee in the top spot.
"Alli and Emma at No. 2 doubles, and Sydney and Taylor at No. 3 doubles, both played exceptional, giving us momentum going into singles," Southwestern head tennis coach Billy Porter says.
Wahl opened singles with a three-set victory over Winslow in No. 3 singles, winning 6-1, 3-6, 6-0. Kenyon's Beshentseva responded with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Mitrofanova in No. 1 singles to pull to within 3-2.
Kesterson swung the match with a three-set victory over Nagireddy at No. 3 singles. The No. 39-ranked Kesterson fell behind early with a 3-6 loss in the first set. The two battled in the second set, with Kesterson pulling away with a 7-5 win, then clinching the penultimate match with a 6-3 win in the third set.
"Sydney elevated her game in the third set to get us a key point at line 4," Porter says. "The entire match swung when Emma won the second set to go into the third. She was down early in the third but remained composed to get us the crucial fourth point."
Despriet clinched the match with another three-set thriller, defeating Dakos 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 to secure Southwestern's first win against a top-five opponent.
"Taylor was as mentally strong as we've ever seen her," Porter says. "She served for the second set and match twice and found a way to clench in a full third."
Southwestern improves to 3-3 with the win, including 3-0 against non-scholarship programs. The Pirates will host LeTourneau on Friday, March 4, at 4:00 p.m, and Whitman on March 16.