Women’s tennis opened up their spring season in Kalamazoo Sunday afternoon against Division I opponent Western Michigan University. The Chargers fell to the Broncos 7-0.
All matches were completed in straight sets.
Junior Lindsay Peirce played the closest singles match for the Chargers, losing the first set 6-4 and then falling behind 6-1 in the second set. At no. 1 singles, junior Sydney Delp lost 6-2, 6-2, while sophomore Rachel Blaauw lost her match 6-3, 6-1 at no. 6 singles.
Senior Morgan Delp and sophomore Dana Grace Buck showed a promising start in their debut at no. 2 doubles, winning a couple games before falling to the opponents with a final score of 6-2. Although usually playing doubles with her sister, Sydney, Morgan said playing with Buck was fun.
“Dana is great to play with, and our coach is being strategic and preparing for next season,” Morgan Delp said.
Coach Walbright said the team showed improved strength and conditioning from the off-season workouts, and she was pleased with their performance.
“It’s tough to prepare for a school like WMU,” Walbright said. “So we went in just knowing we wanted to do our best and learn from a strong team.”
Although not pulling out a win, Peirce said the match outcome didn’t come as a complete surprise, since the Chargers opened up the previous year’s spring season facing the Broncos as well.
“They are just at another level—always game-planning, always ready for the next shot, always wanting to win the point,” Peirce said. “It is always a learning experience though.”
Only allowed to play for a total of eight hours per NCAA regulation for off-season training and recently returning to 20 hours for the spring season, the tennis team utilizes every hour they get with an intense training regimen of conditioning, lifting, and hitting.
“The girls enjoy the challenging workouts and put in great work at each session,” Walbright said.
Overall, the team looks forward to the opportunity to focus on more specifics during the spring season and working towards improving for next year’s fall season.
“It’s nice to play matches and figure out what we each want to focus on for the summer so we can come back stronger and ready to compete in our conference,” Peirce said.
Hillsdale now breaks for 23 days before resuming its spring schedule, facing Huntington University on March 28.