PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne women's tennis team earned wins over both Carnegie Mellon and Northern Kentucky at the Alpha Tennis and Fitness Center this past weekend in non-conference play.
 
The Dukes defeated Carnegie Mellon 6-1 late Friday night, before returning to the Alpha Saturday afternoon to edge out Northern Kentucky 4-3.
 
Duquesne opened play Friday against the Tartans by taking two out of three in doubles play to earn the point. Priyanka Mitta and Meredith Lee won the top-slot 6-3, while a 7-5 win at No. 3 doubles by Ellen Shanahan and Ana Utrilla Benito secured the point.
 
The Dukes claimed five of the singles matches in straight sets to clinch the victory. Utrilla Benito took the top singles spot 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) over CMU's Sarah Yang in a match that took over two and a half hours. Yang led 5-2 in the second set, but rallied back and won in the tiebreaker. 
 
Natasha Novak won No. 3 singles 6-3, 6-4 over Janabelle Wu. Daniela Latoni took No. 4 singles 6-2, 6-1 onver Zoe Angell, while Lee won at No. 5 singles 6-1, 6-3 over the Tartans' Victoria Chang.
 
Blanca Benet Garcia had the match-clinching victory at No. 6 singles over Abigail Khieu. It was also her first-ever collegiate dual match win.
 
The team rallied back from a 3-0 deficit against Northern Kentucky to earn a 4-3 win.
 
The Norse narrowly took the doubles point in a tiebreaker and proceded to win at No. 1 and No. 3 singles to stand one point away from clinching the match.
 
Shanahan got the Dukes on the board with a three-set win over NKU's Laura Sola Grau, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.
 
Latoni and Lee each won their matches at No. 4 and No. 5 singles to setup a winner-take-all finish at No. 6 singles. Benet Garcia was up to the challenge with a straight sets win (6-4, 6-4) to complete the comeback for Duquesne.
 
The Dukes return to play on Saturday, March 5 when they host Delaware in a non-league match at the Alpha around 4 p.m.