RIPON, Wis. - The Ripon College women's tennis team lost their first two matches of the season on Saturday, falling to Midwest Conference foes Grinnell and Cornell by scores of 9-0 and 8-1, respectively.

Against Grinnell, Ripon lost all three doubles matches by a combined score of 24-3, while also losing all six singles matches. Their most competitive matches came at the top two singles flights. Brianna Bembenek lost at the top flight 6-0, 6-4, while Hannah Ryback lost her number two singles match 6-1, 6-3.

In their second match of the day, Ripon's only victory came at the number three doubles match where Samantha Kiesner and Carly Wesner teamed up for an 8-6 victory. The Red Hawks were also very competitive in singles play, with two of them ending in a tiebreak.

"I have a feeling both of these teams will be among the top four in our conference that will qualify for the Midwest Conference team tournament," Ripon Head Coach Rob Oertel said. "I can't fault the effort of the girls, and we learned a lot today, which I'm sure will help us with our upcoming MWC matches."

Ripon will try to bounce back on Septemeber 15 when they'll play at Illinois College and at Knox at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.