SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's tennis started strong on its way to a 5-2 victory Friday afternoon over Menlo at Castellucci Family Tennis Center.

Deepalakshmi Vanaraja and Astrid Craig paired at No. 3 doubles for the Penguins (1-1) and were brilliant throughout as the duo cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Oaks' (0-2) Carlotta Stern and Lea Mocher. Maria Gavrilov and Lorenza Foster-Simbulan paired at No. 1 doubles for the first time for Dominican and they opened the match against Livia Harper and Andrea Vlasceanu by holding serve to a 3-2 lead. Foster-Simbulan and Gavrilov corrected a few things as the teams changed sides for the second time and went on to win four of the next five games to take the match 6-3 and deliver the first team point of the match to the Penguins. Gina Dudley and Sofia Acuña also paired for the first time and shook off a slow start to win 6-3 and complete the doubles sweep for Dominican.

The Penguins continued to roll early in the singles portion as Logan Koitka won the first point of the segment with a convincing 6-2, 6-0 victory over Stern. Dudley made it 3-0 Dominican moments later as she completed a 6-3, 6-0 win over Harper in No. 1 singles to put Dominican a point away from the clinch. Gavrilov opened with a strong 6-1 victory in the first set at No. 2 singles but Vlasceanu tightened things up for a much closer second set. Gavrilov held off the surging Vlasceanu to win 6-4 and deliver the team victory to the Penguins. 

Acuña claimed No. 4 singles taking an extremely close 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 victory over Mocher.  
Milana Hrudka delivered a 6-2, 6-4 victory for the Oaks first point at No. 3 singles and Yousra Hidass claimed No. 5 singles 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. 

Dominican will hit the road Satruday to face Fresno Pacific at 2 p.m. at Haak Tennis Center.