HAMMOND, Ind. -- Giulia Castiglioni (Lugano, Switzerland) picked up the victory at No. 2 singles as the Purdue University Northwest women's tennis team dropped their Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener to Saginaw Valley State Saturday.

The Cardinals (1-0, 1-0 GLIAC) defeated the Pride (3-1, 0-1 GLIAC), 6-1, at Community Hospital Tennis Complex inside Dowling Park.

Castigloni won her match at No. 2 singles against SVSU's Joanne Gao in a three-set thriller, 6-4, 3-6, 10-6.

SVSU recorded the first point of the match after sweeping doubles competition to go ahead 1-0. 

Carolina Yepez (Guayaquil, Ecuador) fought hard at No. 5 singles, forcing a three-set tiebreaker but ultimately fell to SVSU's Gyselle Gutierrez, 6-2, 1-6, 11-9. Pia Schmedding (Hamburg, Germany) nearly forced a third set but ended up dropping her match at No. 3 singles to SVSU's Taylor McLaughlin, 6-3, 7-5.

Patricia Dizon (Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator) dropped her match at No. 4 singles against SVSU's Maya Campbell, 6-2, 6-4. Lena van Bergen (Wesel, Germany) put up a fight at No. 1 singles but lost her match against Maddie Miller, 6-2, 6-1. 

Yepez and Cynthia Basu-Chavez (Merrillville, Ind./Merrillville) nearly pulled off their match at No. 3 doubles but were edged out in their match to SVSU's McLaughlin and Johnson, 6-4. 

09/22/2018
Hammond, Ind. (Dowling Park)
SVSU 6, PNW 1
SINGLES -- 1.  Maddie Miller (SVSU) def. Lena van Bergen (PNW), 6-2, 6-1; 2. Giulia Castiglioni (PNW) def. Joanne Gao (SVSU), 6-4, 3-6, 10-6; 3. Taylor McLaughlin (SVSU) def. Pia Schmedding (PNW), 6-3, 7-5; 4. Maya Campbell (SVSU) def. Patricia Dizon (PNW), 6-2, 6-4; 5. Gyselle Gutierrez (SVSU) def. Carolina Yepez (PNW), 6-2, 1-6, 11-9; 6. Nicole Johnson (SVSU) def. Anna Wachowski (PNW), 6-0, 6-0.

DOUBLES -- 1. Miller/Gutierrez (SVSU) def. Dizon/van Bergen (PNW), 6-2; 2. Gao/Campbell (SVSU) def. Schmedding/Castigloni (PNW), 6-2; 3. McLaughlin/Johnson (SVSU) def. Yepez/Cynthia Basu-Chavez (PNW), 6-4.