ELSAH, Ill. – The McKendree University women's tennis snapped a three-match losing skid here Friday evening following its 9-0 non-conference victory over Principia College at the Hexberg Tennis Center on the Principia campus.
 
With the win, McKendree improves to 5-5 overall on the season, while Principia falls to 4-8 on the year. The shutout win was just the second of the season for the Bearcats as they also earned a 7-0 home win over Missouri Baptist.
 
Friday's match was played during NCAA Division III scoring rules as all nine matches (three doubles and six singles) count as one match and the team that wins five matches earns the match victory.
 
The teams began Friday's match by playing doubles and the Bearcats got off to a strong start as they swept all three doubles matches to take a 3-0 lead in the match. It marked the fourth time this season that McKendree won all three doubles matches.
 
In doubles play, the Bearcats won by identical 8-0 scores at both No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, while the Bearcats No. 1 team of junior Viola Cipriani (Arezzo, Italy/Liceo Classico Francesco Petrarca) and Camilla Fonseca (Rio de Janerio, Brazil/Colegio Saber) picked up an 8-4 win over Principia's No. 1 team of Camila Gomez and Veronica Volkart. Cipriani and Fonseca improved to 6-4 on the season in doubles play.
 
Following doubles play, the teams would play six singles matches and the Bearcats would sweep all six matches and lost a total of 21 games in the match.
 
Cipriani would improve to 6-4 on the season in singles as she picked up a 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) win at No. 1 singles over Gomez.
 
Fonseca picked up her second singles win of the season with a 6-2, 6-1 win at the No. 2 spot in the line-up over Gaby Quintero.
 
Sophomore  Maria Vitoria Salomao (Minas Geraids, Brazil/Belo Horizonte) moved her season record to 6-4 in singles following her straight sets win at No. 3 singles over Kelsie Huss. Salomao won 6-0, 6-4 over Huss.
 
Sophomore Rhyan Cook (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington North) earned a win by identical 6-1, 6-1 scores at No. 4 singles over Volkart. Cook improved to 5-5 on the season in singles with the win.
 
In the final two singles matches – No. 5 and No. 6 – the Bearcats lost just one game as junior Mariana Caicedo Mora (Cucuta, Colombia/American International School of Mallorca) won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5 singles and sophomore Emily Kettering (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community West) won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6 singles.
 
The Bearcats will return to action on Saturday, April 2 as they open Great Lakes Valley Conference play with an 11 a.m. match against Illinois-Springfield at the tennis courts on the McKendree campus in Lebanon.