ORLANDO, Fla. – The Franklin & Marshall women's tennis team opened its week in Florida with a pair of narrow hard-fought losses to Ithaca and Mary Hardin-Baylor on Monday. The Diplomats came up just one team match shy against the Bombers during a 5-4 setback and also gave the undefeated Crusaders all they could handle in a 6-3 final.

F&M won two of the three doubles points against Ithaca, claiming wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles behind the respective pairings of Lorena Saavedra/Amelia Squires and Kakie Colclough/Presley Daggett. Singles play versus the Bombers saw competitive matches up and down the lineup, including three matches that went to 10-point tiebreaks. However, Saavedra was the only F&M player to come away with a victory during her ultimate tiebreak - doing so in a 12-10 back-and-forth battle at No. 5 singles. Colclough was also a perfect 2-0 against the Bombers as she took a 6-4, 6-3 victory at No. 6 singles.

Both the Saavedra/Squires and Colclough/Daggett pairings continued to excel during the afternoon match against the Crusaders. With their 2-0 records on Monday in the Sunshine State, both of those doubles teams are now tied for the team lead with three victories together during the dual meet portion of the schedule. F&M also got a win in singles versus UMBH as Sophia Rhazali claimed a 10-point tiebreak via a 10-8 final at No. 3 singles during a tightly-contested affair across all three sets.

Women's tennis will continue to challenge itself against a tough schedule in Florida as the Diplomats battle No. 20 Denison on Tuesday.