In a long weekend of away matches, the women’s tennis team defeated Ohio Dominican 5-4 and Tiffin 6-3. Their lone loss came from Ashland, 5-4.
“The other coaches know that we’re a lot better this year and we’re proving it by winning matches that they weren’t expecting us to,” said team captain and senior Brittany Parks. “We’re definitely on the radar now.”
Also on the radar is freshman Sydney Delp, who won the tie-breaking singles round in Friday’s match against Ohio Dominican and won every match she competed in over the course of the entire weekend.
“If she lost that one tie-breaker, we would have lost the match,” said Parks. “I don’t think that’s happened at all, certainly not since last year. Sydney played amazingly. She had some really tough matches and pulled them out.”
“It was very exciting,” Delp said. “It really makes a difference to be playing with a team, to have people cheering you on and people to win for. Peirce and Parks were both great. They had heart and fight and completely turned it around. They did it for the team and gave everyone motivation.”
Freshman Lindsay Peirce also pulled out an impressive performance, winning five out of six matches. Junior Morgan Linden got her first win of the year in singles vs. Tiffin and freshman Shannon O’Hearn got her first win in doubles vs. Ashland, partnered with fellow freshman Rachel Blaauw.
“We played well this weekend,” Parks said. “We won against two teams who defeated us last year.”
The match against Ohio Dominican was a table-turning win from behind. At the end of the doubles competition, Hillsdale had to win four out of six singles in order to take the team match.
The other three wins – prior to Delp’s tiebreaker – were from freshman Lindsey Peirce, Parks, and sophomore Morgan Delp.
“Lindsay played really well,” Parks said. “And Morgan just dominated. But it was definitely a comeback win.”
Friday’s victory was followed by “heartbreaking defeat” on Saturday, as Hillsdale lost 5-4 to Ashland, Parks said.
“We were in the same general situation as the day before, and we had to win four out of six singles again, but Sydney, Lindsay, and I were the only ones who won. The matches were just so close,” Parks said.
In the final match of the weekend against Tiffin, the team won all three of their doubles matches, providing a tremendous amount of momentum going into the singles competition. The Chargers used that momentum to take three of the six singles matches and secure the win.
“It’s bittersweet to lose that one match, but we have a lot more confidence going into the next couple weekends,” Parks said. “That’s why you need to pull ahead in the really close ones.”
Hillsdale has seven more matches to play in the season, the next three of which are home games against well-established teams: Friday, Oct. 5 at 3 p.m. vs. Michigan Tech; Lake Superior State at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 6; and Saginaw Valley at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 7.