Saturday was nearly a perfect day for Franklin women's tennis, which earned a 7-0 sweep at Wittenberg before suffering a heartbreaking 4-3 defeat against Capital.

The Grizzlies, now 2-3 on the fall, got their day started with a shutout victory. Franklin picked up the doubles point against Wittenberg, with Ailyn Hendricks and Emma Tranter gaining a 6-4 win at No. 1 and Emma Sappenfield and Eleanor Stillabower rolling to a 6-0 victory in the second spot. Hendricks, Tranter, Reagan Cox and Alleigh Leezer won their singles matches in straight sets, with the Grizzlies taking the remaining matches by walkover.

In the second match of the day, Sappenfield and Sofie Ballesteros got a 6-2 win at third doubles but Capital snagged the point by taking the other two matches by 6-4 scores. Stillabower got a quick 6-1, 6-0 win at sixth singles to tie the match, but the Comets had an answer each time the Grizzlies threatened. Leezer got a 7-5, 6-0 victory at fourth singles, and Tranter added a 6-2, 3-6, 10-6 triumph at No. 2 singles for Franklin.

Cox fought valiantly for nearly an hour and a half at third singles before coming out on the losing end of a 6-2, 2-6, 10-7 score that clinched it for Capital.

"Everything 2 through 5 was an absolute battle for every point," Franklin coach Ryan Hammer said. "Definitely a battle that could have gone either way, and we came up just short in doubles and two 10-point tiebreakers."

The Grizzlies will travel west for their last two road matches of the fall this coming Saturday (Sept. 20), taking on Illinois College and Olivet Nazarene.