Lexington, Ky. - The Franklin College women's tennis team opened Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) play with an impressive 9-0 road win over Transylvania University on Saturday.

The Grizzlies (3-0) quickly grabbed momentum of the match by winning all three doubles matches. Senior Melissa Sanders (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North) and freshman Karen Dringenburg (Seymour, Ind./Seymour) picked up an 8-2 triumph at the top of the doubles lineup.

Senior Chelsea Howell (West Harrison, Ind./Franklin County) teamed with freshman Rachel Rose (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) to lose only one game at No. 2 doubles.

Junior Emily Helvie (Batesville, Ind./Batesville) and freshman Holyn Eldridge (Goshen, Ind./Concord) won by an 8-5 score to give Franklin the 3-0 advantage.

In singles, senior Emily Roberts (Franklin, Ind./Edinburgh) dropped only one game in winning at No. 4 singles. Howell was a 6-0, 6-4 winner on the No. 2 court to clinch the team victory for the Grizzlies. Sanders earned a hard-fought three-set triumph with a 10-8 score in the third set. Sanders lost the opening set in a tiebreaker, before forcing the deciding set with a 6-4 score in the second set.

Dringenburg did not lose a game in winning at No. 3 singles. Rose and Eldridge won by identical 8-2 scores on the No. 5 and 6 courts respectively.

Franklin returns to action when it hosts Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Sunday, September 13, at noon from the Mickel-Hoover Tennis Complex.