ADRIAN, Mich. - The Calvin University women's tennis team defeated Adrian College on the road Thursday to open the MIAA portion of its schedule.

Calvin (11-1, 1-0 MIAA) opened the match by taking two of the three doubles contests. The two-doubles team of Catherine Grissom (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) and Rachel Grissom (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) won 8-2, while the three-doubles team of Tessa Holman (Washington, Mich./Romeo) and Elise Norman (Battle Creek, Mich./Lakeview) won 8-3. Adrian (9-7, 0-2 MIAA) won in one-doubles 8-4 to secure its lone point.

Singles play proved to be a tight battle up and down the lineup, with four of the six matches going to a third set.

The Bulldogs started strong with a pair of three-set wins in the numbers-one and two matches, but Catherine Grissom (6-1, 6-4) and Averi Lewis (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin) (6-0, 6-0) won in straight sets to push the Calvin point total to four overall.

Late in the match, Maggie Shoemaker (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) won a three-set battle in four-singles 6-2, 5-7 and 6-1, and Julia Hooker (East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) came back after losing a first-set tiebreaker to win her six-singles match in three sets 6-7 (3-7), 6-0, 6-1.

COACH'S COMMENT: "Big road win for us to start conference play," Calvin head tennis coach John Ross said. "Adrian is tough. Nice win by Julia (Hooker) to help clinch the win for us in the third set. Looking forward to getting back into action next week at Kalamazoo."

NEXT UP: Calvin women's tennis will return to action on Tuesday, April 2, when it travels to Kalamazoo for a match scheduled to start at 4:00 PM.