FRANKLIN – The Franklin College women's tennis team faced their toughest test of the fall season on Wednesday night when they welcomed pre-season Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) favorites Rose-Hulman to the Mickel-Hoover Tennis Complex.

The match took nearly five hours to complete, but at the end of the night, the Grizzlies remained unbeaten, sending the Fightin' Engineers home with a 6-3 defeat. The win moves Franklin to 6-0 in the fall and drops Rose-Hulman to 3-1 overall.

Franklin set the tone early by sweeping all three doubles matches. The top tandem of Karen Dringenburg and Rachel Rose stayed unbeaten as a team with an 8-2 win over Anna Thompson and Naomi Bhagat. Holyn Eldridge and Alexa Schofner were 8-6 winners at No. 2 doubles, while Megan Battles and Lilly Bushong completed the doubles sweep with an 8-4 win at the No. 3 spot.

Dringenburg was a straight-set winner over Thompson at the top singles spot, coming away with a 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) win. Eldridge needed three sets to close out the Franklin win, ultimately holding off Bella Evans in No. 2 singles action, 6-3, 0-6, 6-3. Battles put the finishing touches on the victory, taking the final point via retirement in No. 5 singles play.

Franklin aims to stay perfect on Friday afternoon, when they welcome Indiana-East to Mickel-Hoover. First serve is set for 4:00 p.m.