• Box Score

GRANVILLE, Ohio (Feb. 12) – Playing one of the top teams in NCAA Division III, the No. 13 Vulcans won two of the three doubles matches on Friday afternoon to register a 7-2 victory over No. 8 Denison (Ohio).

The California University of Pennsylvania tennis team improves to 6-0 this season, including a 3-0 mark during the spring campaign. Meanwhile, Denison evens its record at 1-1 this year after defeating Grand Valley State last week. Both teams won their respective conference championships last year and appeared in the NCAA Tournament.

The Vulcans opened the match with two wins in the doubles session to take a 2-1 lead. Freshmen Jutta Bornefeld (Varel, Germany) and Jade Pondicas (Johannesburg, South Africa) posted an 8-2 win at the second slot over Kara Zdanowski and Erin Chadwell. At third doubles, junior Galina Vishnikina (Almaty, Kazakhstan/Sport Military) and sophomore Anastassiya Zherdeva (Almaty, Kazakhstan) improved to a 6-0 in dual matches this year after defeating the Big Red's Laura Krull and Alex Marcell.

Cal U then won five of the six decisions in singles play to collect the team victory. At second singles, 29th-ranked sophomore Alina Stanila (Alexandria, Romania/Technical) registered a 6-3, 6-4 win over Marta Drane. Zherdeva defeated Denison's Sarah Short 6-3, 6-2 at the third slot, while Bornefeld finished off Chadwell at fourth singles by a 7-5, 6-0 count.

Pondicas and Vishnikina finished out singles play with victories at the fifth and sixth positions, respectively. Pondicas has earned back-to-back wins in singles play after collecting a 7-6, 6-1 win on Friday. Vishnikina improved her spring combined record to an impressive 6-0 after rallying to a 6-7, 6-4, 10-4 victory over Kate Westenberger.

The Vulcans are idle for a week before returning to the courts next Saturday, Feb. 20, when they travel to Washington, D.C., to face Division I George Washington.