By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
NILES - The Dowagiac tennis team won its second straight tournament championship on Saturday as it shared the title at the Brandywine Invitational.
The Chieftains and host Lady Bobcats both scored 28 points to share the tournament championship. Bridgman was third with 10 points and Lake Michigan Catholic fourth with eight points.
Dowagiac captured the four singles flight championships, while Brandywine won all four doubles flights.
The two teams finished second in the respective flights they did not win.
Winning singles titles for the Chieftains were Lisa Rubino, Ann O'Keefe, Taylor Townsend and Amelia First.
Townsend rallied from a set down and a 3-0 deficit in the second set to win her opening round match against Brandywine's Brittney Patterson. Townsend won the third set 6-0.
Rubino added that Brandywine has done a nice job rebuilding from last year's squad after heavy losses due to graduation.
All of Dowagiac's singles teams were 2-0 on the day. The doubles teams were all 1-1 with the exception of the No. 2 squad of Ashley Smith and Kim Rutkowski which went 2-1.
Dowagiac played Calie Daniels and Lindsay Tyler at No. 1 doubles, while Kate Duszynski and Kayleigh Sundman competed at No. 3 doubles. Tonya Scherer and Shelly Urbanski played at No. 4 doubles on Saturday.
Dowagiac is back in action today as it travels to Stevensville for a Big 16 Conference West Division match against Lakeshore. The match is a make up from earlier in the year. The match has been moved up a day from its original rescheduled date.
The match is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m.
The Chieftains will face either Portage Central of Portage Northern, depending on the outcome of the Lakeshore match, on Wednesday in the first of two Big 16 Conference crossover matches.
In the second cross-over match on Monday, Sept. 26, Dowagiac will face either Coldwater or Battle Creek Lakeview. That opponent will also be decided based on the outcome of the Lakeshore match.
Dowagiac's junior varsity squad will host Eau Claire on Thursday.