These first few weeks of the spring season have not been easy for the Lady 'Hawks. Last week on Spring Break we played the number 10 and 21 ranked teams in the country, and this weekend at the Midwest Invite the competition wouldn't get any easier. The Midwest Invite is a tournament that brings the top 9 teams in the Midwest together.
First up for the Lady 'Hawks were the 13th ranked Washington University Bears. The Lady 'Hawks got out to early leads at both 1 and 2 doubles, but 3 doubles was not so fortunate. Their team was tough and they ended up falling 8-3. 1 and 2 doubles ended up holding onto their leads to put the Warhawks up 2-1 heading into singles, but the Bears weren't going to go away that easy.
Annie Smith came up against a tough opponent at 3 singles, and lost 1-6, 1-6. After her match the score was tied 2-2, and the Warhawks were up a set at 2, and 6 singles. Around this time Megan Kasten started making a comeback after losing the first set at 5. Sydney Divelbiss ended up winning her match putting the Warhawks up 3-2. Alexandra Bayliss started playing better at 4 singles towards the end, but it was too little too late. After 4 singles ended the match score was 3-3. Kalla Schaefer was down a set at 1 but still fighting, Megan Kasten and Lauren Aguilar both were headed into 3rd set tiebreakers. Kasten ended up playing well and winning her tiebreaker, and around the time that match ended Kalla Schaefer lost at 1 singles. This meant that the match was tied 4-4 and would come down to 6 singles where Lauren Aguilar was tied with her opponent 7-7 in the third set tiebreaker. At that point her opponent played 3 tremendous points to take the individual and team match. Needless to say it was a tough loss for the Lady 'Hawks.
The Ladies couldn't sulk for too long though because they had another tough ranked opponent in the 17th ranked, Denison Big Red. Again the Warhawks took a 2-1 lead heading into singles, but this time it was 2 and 3 doubles who won their matches as 1 doubles played sloppy early and they weren't able to rebound.
Sydney Divelbiss wasn't feeling well at this point, but she put up a great effort at 2 singles in a 2-6, 2-6 loss. This brought the overall match score to 2-2. Kasten and Jackie Vitale were leading at 5 and 6 singles respectively, but the Lady 'Hawks trailed in every other match other than 1 singles but it was very tight. Kasten and Vitale ended up winning quickly at 5 and 6 to give the Lady 'Hawks the 4-2 lead. We needed one of the other matches that were on. At this point Kalla Schaefer had won her first set, and was up a break in the second. Not to mention Alexandra Bayliss and Annie Smith who had come back and won the second sets in their matches to force them to third set tiebreakers. All three ladies ended up winning to give the 'Hawks the 7-2 victory.
This was a great win for the ladies especially following that tough loss to Wash U. I think this says a lot about our ladies attitudes and how good of competitors they are. After the matches on Friday the ladies headed to Sydney Divelbiss' parents house for a terrific meal. A very specail thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Divelbiss for hosting the team.
On Saturday the Lady 'Hawks were going to have a tough match with Division III powerhouse Gustavus Adolphus College. Gustavus was ranked 20th in the nation and it would be the ladies' 5th match against a higher ranked opponent in 2 weeks. This was also the first time the 'Hawks would play the Gusties in Wisconsin as we always go to Minnesota to play them. In doubles the Warhawks played great from the gate at 1 doubles, but 2 and 3 were different stories. At 2 doubles the ladies went down 4-7 and things looked bleak, but their great defensive skills plus timely down the line shots pulled them back into the match at 7-7. At the same time 3 doubles was down 5-7, and used great lobbing and solid net play to force that match into a tiebreaker. I can tell you right now things were tense inside Nielsen Tennis Center. Both teams new the importance of winning one of those matches. Smith and Divelbiss ended up breaking at 7-7 to serve out the match. After getting up 40 love the Gusties saved three match points and stormed back to deuce. Both teams traded game points and after what seemed like 50 deuce points the Lady Hawks on the match 9-7. At the same time 3 doubles won their match in a tiebreaker, and it gave the Lady 'Hawks the 3-0 lead. The match was far from over, Gustavus is tough in singles, and the ladies were ready for a battle. Since the matches were only played to decision the ladies needed 2 wins to close out the match. The first win came from Alexandra Bayliss at 4 singles who won 6-0, 6-1. At the same time over on court 6 Jackie Vitale was up 6-0, 5-0 before her opponent made a 3 game comeback. At 5-3 tension was building, but Jackie was able to serve it out and clinch the victory for the Lady 'Hawks. The final match score was 5-0.
This is only the second time in program history that UWW has beaten Gustavus, but more importantly it caps off a stretch where the Lady 'Hawks played 5 opponents who were ranked higher than us and we ended up going 3-2. I feel confident that this will help us later in the season as we prepare for the WIAC automatic qualifier.
For Wash U individual match scores click here
For Denison individual match scores click here
For GAC individual match scores click here
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