Our first day of matches saw the Men and Women in the morning taking on Graceland University, a NAIA school out of Iowa.
For both matches we tried to get a lot of players into the line-up that normally don't get to play. Almost everyone on both teams got to play in the matches and everyone stepped up very well. All of the ladies played strong throughout, and won the match 9-0. Players who aren't normally in the line-up like Jessica Vitale, Kelsey Fitzgerald, Hillary Franzen, Kelly Foster, and Abby Day really stepped up to help out in the team win.
The Men's match was filled with a little more drama and suspense. Again the Warhawks used all of the players on the team in either singles or doubles. The men played great as well, but after the first six matches got off the Warhawks found themselves tied 3-3. The Warhawks needed 2 of the final 3 singles matches for the win. The three matches on were 2, 5, and 6 singles featuring Andrew Bayliss, RJ Rademacher, and Dan Noonan. Andrew has been in many close match situations before, but Rademacher and Noonan were new to that experience. Bayliss was the first one off the court, but he came off with a suprising loss. This meant for the Warhawks to win the match they would need to rely on players who had never been in that situation before. RJ was serving so well and he looked unbreakable. RJ came off the court a winner and tied the overall match 4-4. Dan then knew it was up to him to get the team win. He performed extremely well and looked like a seasoned vet who had been there many times before.
After the Graceland matches both teams prepared for Central Region foes Carleton College. Unfortunately the weather did not want to comply, and it began to rain. The men's match was cancelled, but the Women were able to find 3 indoor courts (the only indoor courts on the island!) to play their match, but it was postponed a few hours.
After a few hours of rest the Women's team went to the indoor courts to take on Carleton College. Because of the lack of courts it was decided the match was going to be played until completion. Doubles started out, and it was obvious both teams really wanted the win. The Lady Warhawks played tremendously well at every doubles spot, and the Lady 'Hawks were able to pull out 2 and 3 doubles. 1, 3, and 5 singles were the first three singles matches to go on and the Lady 'Hawks pulled out 2 of those 3 matches. This included a great match by Kalla Schaefer over one of the region's best players, Kathryn Schimdt. Kalla's three set win fired up the rest of the Lady 'Hawks and put them up 4-2, just one win away from the team victory. Alexandra Bayliss secured the 5-2 victory with a win at 4 singles. This was a huge match for the Lady 'Hawks over a great regionally and nationally ranked opponent. Here are some videos from the impressive win
The Men return to action Monday against Division I The Citadel, and the Women return to action Tuesday against NAIA College of Coastal Georgia.
For Men's Individual Match Scores from Graceland
Box Score
For Women's Individual Match Scores from Graceland and Carleton
Box Scores
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