• Box Score

GRANVILLE, Ohio (Feb. 23) – The No. 11 California University of Pennsylvania tennis team claimed a 9-0 victory over Denison, the No. 6 team in NCAA Division III, at the Mitchell Athletic Center on Thursday afternoon.

With the win, the Vulcans improve to 6-1 this season with their only loss coming at Penn. Meanwhile, the Big Red falls to 0-1 after dropping their season-opener.

Cal U swept doubles play for the fifth time season to take an early 3-0 lead. At the first position, the No. 6-ranked tandem of seniors Martina Rubesova (Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Dr. Vaclava Smejkala) and Franziska Steinhardt (Bad Lausick, Germany/St. Augustin Gymnasium) posted an 8-5 victory over Denison's Sarah Short and Alex Marcell. The No. 15-ranked duo of junior Jade Pondicas (Johannesburg, South Africa/British International Distance) and senior Annabel Pieschl (Gothenburg, Sweden/Katrinelund) earned their team-leading 13th doubles win of the season by downing Kelsey Geppner and Kate Westenberger by an 8-6 count at second doubles. The Vulcans completed the doubles sweep when freshmen Jolien Borrenberghs (Hasselt, Belgium/KA2 Sportschool) and Jesse Burrell (Perth, Australia/Presbyterian Ladies' College) edged the Big Red's Courtney Steiner and Lilianna Brossalian, 9-7, at the third position.

At first singles, No. 12-ranked Rubesova cruised to a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Short, who was an All-American last year. Pieschl earned a 6-4, 6-1 win against Geppner at the second position, while Pondicas posted a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Marcell at third singles.

Freshman Ramona Czakon improved to 15-1 this year in singles play after downing Broussalian by a 6-0, 6-2 count at the sixth position. Zherdeva posted a 6-4, 6-1 victory against Westenberger at fourth singles and Steinhardt collected a 6-3, 6-1 win over Heather Abzug at the fifth slot.

The Vulcans are idle for two-plus weeks before returning to action when they travel to face Cincinnati of the BIG EAST on March 7 at 1 p.m. Last season, Cal U defeated six NCAA Division I programs with wins over BIG EAST members Villanova and West Virginia.