WHITEWATER, Wis.- The UW-Oshkosh women's tennis team opened the season at the UW-Whitewater Warhawk Invite on Saturday (Aug. 31), placing seventh of eight teams and scoring 17 points.
 
Grinnell College (Iowa) won the invitational with 46 points, followed by UW-Whitewater in second with 44 and Luther College in third with 32. The remainder of the standings were UW-Eau Claire in fourth (26), UW-La Crosse in fifth (25), Carthage College in sixth (22) and Augustana College (Ill.) in eighth (10).
 
Mana Usui (Fr. • Franklin) kicked off her collegiate career by placing fourth in the No. 2 singles. She allowed a single point in her first match against Maitreyi Shrikhande of Augustana (6-1, 6-0) but lost to Pari Chavan from Grinnell by matching scores of 6-1 in the semifinal match. Against Montse Ramirez Mainou of Luther, she pushed the third place matchup to three sets by winning the second 6-4 after dropping the first 6-0, however Ramirez Mainou earned third by winning it 10-8.
 
In the No. 1 singles, Olivia Pethan (So. • Oshkosh) lost her first match 6-3, 6-0 before winning her next two by scores of 8-2 and 8-3 over Lena Lichau from Luther and Augustana's Anna-Maria Huebel to win the consolation bracket and finish in fifth.
 
Brianna Owens (Fr. • Appleton) and Courtney Carpenter (Jr. • Oshkosh) fell 8-3 in the first match to Whitewater's Molly Asfeld and Alex Repplier and won the second match 8-7 (7-3) over Greta Peterson and Niki Manojlovic from Carthage, placing fifth.
 
Cate Gerl (So. • Joliet, Ill.) and Grace Brown (Fr. • Sugar Grove, Ill.) placed seventh in the No. 3 doubles draw. They dropped the opening match 8-0 to Luther's Abby Struble and Lot van den Broek, the second 8-2 to Marie Wies and Victoria Rizzo from Carthage. They then defeated Maddy Harned and Sofia Carr of Augustana 8-7 (7-5).
 
Vianna Dao (Fr. • Oshkosh) lost both of her matches at No. 3 singles in scores of 6-1, 6-1 and 8-0.
 
In the doubles draw No. 1, Kayla Gibbs (So. • Muskego) and Alysa Pattee (Sr. • Waupun) were defeated by Grinnell's Erin Jarvis and Lily Perrin 8-3 and Hannah Colbert and Colleen Larry from Augustana 8-4.
 
The Titans will return to action for a home triangular against Ripon College at 9 a.m. and UW-La Crosse at noon on Saturday, Sept. 7.