Oberlin, Ohio – The spring season for the Oberlin College women's tennis team started in grand fashion as the Yeowomen defeated Baldwin Wallace University and Ursuline College by 9-0 score lines on Saturday.
 
"We played well for it being our first day of competition of the season,” Head Coach Constantine Ananiadis said. “We of course still have lots of work to do, but I was happy that we responded well when the going got tough there in a few spots and pulled those matches out. We are looking forward to facing a tougher opponent next week in Otterbein.”
 
BW Recap l Box Score
 
The morning got started with the No. 1 doubles pairing of Grace Porter and Farah Leclercq# earning a rather easy 8-2 victory over Rebecca Mittler and Kelsey Blatt. After the No. 2 tandem of BW was forced to retire due to injury, the rookie combination of Erin Johnson and Ariana Abayomi earned a hard-fought 9-7 victory over Mackenzie Donalson and Whitney Yoder to give the Yeowomen the sweep.
 
The winning ways continued in singles play as Brenna Sheldon was first to finish after dismantling Blatt 6-0 and 6-1 in the No. 2 match-up. Leclercq, who entered the match ranked seventh in the ITA Central Region Rankings, also made short work of Mittler in the top spot with a convincing 6-3, 6-0 victory.
 
The Yeowomen did incur some adversity in the No. 4 and 5 matches. However, Shah's experience lifted her to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Donalson at No. 4. In the fifth position, Johnson dropped the first set 4-6, but regrouped to win the second 6-1. With the match already determined, she and Danielle Rueger went to a super-breaker where Johnson outlasted the BW foe 10-6 to earn the win.
 
Porter and Abayomi also each won by identical 6-1, 6-1 score lines in spots three and six, respectively.
 
Ursuline Recap l Box Score
 
The Arrows of Ursuline College did not provide much of a fight for the Oberlin College women's tennis team, which ranks eighth in the ITA Central Region, as they fell to the Yeowomen 9-0 on Saturday afternoon.
 
Oberlin dropped just one game in doubles play, that coming in the No. 1 position where Sheldon and Shah took care of Betsy Edwards and Melissa Mihalek 8-1. The first-year duo of Johnson and Abayomi were 8-0 winners at the No. 2 slot, as were Emily Fuller and Ale Kahn at No. 3.
 
Leclercq and Porter, playing at No. 1 and 2 singles, respectively, did not drop a single point in their matches against Edwards and Mihalek.
 
Johnson, who gutted out a marathon three-set victory earlier in the day, was a 6-1, 6-0 winner against Alex Stein at No. 3, while fellow newcomer, Abayomi, won by the same score line against Ashley Reinhart in the fourth position.
 
The perfect day for the Yeowomen concluded with Kahn earning a 6-4, 6-1 win over Kayla Wayts at No. 5. Fuller was also unblemished with in a 6-0, 6-0 blanking of Erin Burke.
 
The Yeowomen are back in action next Saturday when they host Otterbein at 4 p.m.