COLUMBUS, Ohio – After a long pause in play, the Capital women's tennis team got back into action with both its spring home opener and conference opener on Tuesday afternoon. The Crusaders hosted Muskingum University, but dropped a close match by a final of 5-4 at the CU Tennis Courts.

Capital (0-4, 0-1 OAC) came out of doubles play just down one point with the lone win coming from the pair of Nykesha Headen (Manassas, Va.) and Chelsea Pla (Macedonia, Ohio). The duo took down Sydney McDaniel and Amanda Gaeckle, 8-6, in the third doubles pairing.

The Crusaders took each of the top two flights of singles play behind wins from freshman Brittany Keuneke (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and sophomore Megan Williams (University Heights, Ohio). Keuneke downed Elizabeth Knauss by scored of 6-4 and 6-3, while Williams battled to the bitter end and outlasted Lindsay Brindack in a third-set tiebreaker. A total of 22 points were accumulated during the tiebreaking session, but Williams bettered Brindack, 12-10, to finish the job. She defeated her opponent 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (12-10).

In her debut, freshman Melissa Veerman (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) won her singles bout against Amanda Gaeckle (6-2, 6-3) out of the number six spot in the lineup.

However, Muskingum took flights three through five to earn the final points necessary to steal the win. Both Pla and sophomore Annika Wachtman (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) each engaged in tiebreakers in their first singles sets of their Crusader careers. Wachtman won the first set of her match, but dropped the final two (7-6 [7-1], 4-6, 3-6). Pla dropped her match to McDaniel 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.

Muskingum earned its first win of the season in eight attempts.

Capital will hit the road for the University of Mount Union, where they will play the Purple Raiders on Saturday, April 16 at 1 p.m.