Brandeis hands Chapman women their first loss of the year

ORANGE, Calif. – A third-set rally by No. 30-ranked Brandeis University's Simone Vandroff sent the No. 18 Chapman University women's tennis team home with its first loss of the season on Thursday afternoon in a battle of NCAA Division III top-30 programs. Vandroff's come-from-behind win in the No. 6 singles match gave Brandeis (Mass.) a 5-4 victory over the Panthers at the Chapman Tennis Courts.

Chapman (3-1) led the match 4-3 with the Nos. 5 and 6 singles yet to be decided. After Brandeis' Alexa Katz's straight sets win over Panthers' sophomore Kelley Klebenow (6-3, 6-3) evened the team score, the match came down to Vandroff and Chapman senior Cassady Sirois. Sirois took the first set 6-3, but Vandroff rallied to win the second and third sets 7-5, 6-4.

The Panthers gained a 2-1 lead after doubles play with wins in the Nos 2 and 3 matches. Klebenow and sophomore Danielle Kaiden earned a convincing 8-0 win in the No. 2 match while Sirois and freshman Sophia Duong toughed out a 9-8 tiebreak victory in the No. 3 match to give Chapman the early edge.

In singles play, however, only Kaiden and senior Melissa Boyer were able to score for Chapman. After dropping the first set 6-0 to Brandeis' Faith Broderick in the No. 2 singles match, Kaiden rallied to win the second set 6-4 and then the third set in a tiebreaker 7-6.

From the No. 4 position, Boyer earned a straight sets win over Roberta Bergstein 7-5, 6-1, extending her winning streak to four.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Results: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wten/2011-12/files/bu-cu

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