Valparaiso, Ind. (Apr. 9, 2005) ???C Oakland???s women???s tennis team had its chances against Centenary today at the Mid-Con cluster hosted by Valparaiso, but in the end it was the Ladies that came through, picking up two key singles matches in come from behind fashion to pull out a 5-2 win over the Golden Grizzlies. Lauren Sanchez-Murphy (Rochester Hills, Mich.) picked up her second win of the weekend in the match for Oakland. As it did yesterday, Oakland (1-14, 1-5 Mid-Con) got one of the doubles matches to start the day, getting a win at No. 3 doubles from Jessica Erickson (Port Huron, Mich.) and Laura Blankenship (Rochester, Mich.) by a score of 8-1 for their second straight win. Centenary, however, picked up the wins at the first two doubles position to secure the point and take the early lead. Oakland saw Centenary take straight sets wins at the first two singles flights, but the Golden Grizzlies put up a fight at Nos. 3-6 that made the match closer than the final score. With Sanchez-Murphy getting a straight set win at No. 5 by a 6-1, 6-2 margin over her opponent, the result came down to three singles matches that all went three sets. Playing at No. 4, Erickson lost her first set to Ashlee Mantooth, 6-4, but came back to take the next two sets, 6-0 and 6-4 to claim the win. Blankenship???s contest at No. 6 went the opposite way, as she won the first set 6-2, but fell in the final two sets by 6-4 scores. Angie Trecola (Troy, Mich.) also had a chance for Oakland, taking her first set at No. 3 by a 6-3 score only to see her opponent come back to take the final two sets to win the match. Oakland will continue play at the cluster tomorrow, taking on Oral Roberts at 10 a.m. EDT and Western Illinois at 2 p.m.

Centenary 5, Oakland 2 Singles 1. Anja Schmidt (CC) def. Teuta Lulgjurai; 6-1, 6-0 2. Heather Kelly (CC) def. Lisa Pellafone; 6-3, 6-1 3. Christine Majchrowicz (CC) def. Angela Trecola; 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 4. Jessica Erickson (OU) def. Ashlee Mantooth; 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 5. Lauren Sanchez-Murphy (OU) def. Jennifer Majchrowicz; 6-1, 6-26. Lindsay Ezell (CC) def. Laura Blankenship; 2-6, 6-4, 6-4Doubles 1. Schmidt/Kelly (CC) def. Pellafone/Lulgjurai; 8-12. C. Majchrowicz/Mantooth (CC) def. Trecola/Sanchez-Murphy; 8-23. Erickson/Blankenship (OU) def. J. Majchrowicz/Ezell; 8-1