This weekend the UWW Women's Tennis Team returned to action for the spring season by traveling down to Greencastle, IN to participate in the ITA Indoor National Championships. This is a huge honor for the Lady 'Hawks to be invited to the tournament. The tournament is by invite only and features some of the top eight teams in the country. This is UWW's first time at Indoor Nationals for either the Men's or Women's program. For the last two weeks the ladies have been practicing to get back into match shape. On Friday night we opened up the tournament by playing the 2nd ranked and number 1 seeded University of Chicago.
As doubles started against Chicago it was clear we weren't showing the same form as when we finished the fall season, but we were still playing well. At 1 doubles we jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Chicago came roaring back and it was a tight match down the stretch. At 3 doubles it was a back and forth affair the whole time. At 2 doubles Chicago jumped out to an early lead, and while we chipped away we could never make deep enough chips and 2 doubles lost 8-4. 1 and 3 doubles shared similar fates both falling 8-6. Even though the ladies knew it would be a tough mountain to climb and recover from this 0-3 deficit they knew it was possible.
Even though we kept the fight and drive to win alive it was clear Chicago was on top of their game, and it was going to be a difficult road ahead. Some of the singles highlights from the 'Hawks include Alexandra Bayliss' hard fighting in a 5-7, 4-6 loss at 2 singles, and Lauren Aguilar's tough play in her 4-6, 2-6 loss at 5 singles.
For individual scores from the University of Chicago match click here
After that loss we were scheduled to play DePauw University the very next morning at 8:30am. So we headed back to the hotel to try and get as much sleep as possible. The next morning at 8:30am it was clear the ladies had put the Chicago loss behind them and they were focused solely on DePauw. As doubles started against DePauw it was clear this was going to be a tough DePauw team. Bayliss/Divelbiss fell behind early at 1 doubles, but they were slowly chipping away at their opponents lead looking for any momentum they could get. Unfourtunately they never found that momentum, and the fell 8-3. At 2 doubles Vitale, Ja./Kasten were playing tough with their opponents the whole time. It was a back and forth match until DePauw finally came out victorious 8-6. At 3 doubles Aguilar/Foster played well, but their opponents were just too good taking the match 8-4.
Again the Lady 'Hawks faced a 0-3 deficit heading into singles, and again they would need a tremendous singles performance by all 6 players to pull off this comeback. Alexandra Bayliss showed us that it was possible when she took the first set 6-4 at 2 singles. Sydney and Jackie were playing well at 1 and 3 singles, but it wasn't looking good. Alexandra eventually lost the second set and her match entered a third set. The third set was back and forth and was full of suspense, but Alexandra eventually took it 7-5. Though by the time this match had finished the Lady 'Hawks were down 1-5, and a comeback was impossible. Other highlights from singles include Lauren Aguilar who showed a lot of fight in a losing effort at 5 singles. After dropping the first set 1-6 Lauren was down 1-4 in the second set and the outlook wasn't good, but then Lauren made her move she took the next 4 games to get the 5-4 lead. Both players traded holds until they entered a tiebreaker where DePauw came out victorious.
After the loss to DePauw the 'Hawks didn't have much time to regroup. Five hours after the conclusion of the DePauw match the Lady 'Hawks would play the Skidmore in their last match of the tournament. When we started playing at 8:00pm though I'm not sure if any of us knew what we were getting ourselves into. Doubles started off better than any other match for the Lady 'Hawks as Vitale, Ja./Kasten took home a quick 8-4 victory at 2 doubles. Foster/Aguilar struggled to get anything going and fell 8-3. This meant either the Lady 'Hawks would have a 2-1 lead heading into singles or a 1-2 deficit. Bayliss/Divelbiss lead the whole match, but their opponents started gaining confidence toward the end of the match. The teams traded service holds until Skidmore got a break at 7-7 to go up 8-7. From there they finished off the match with a hold to take 1 doubles 9-7, and the 2-1 lead heading into singles.
Even though the ladies came up short getting the lead after doubles they still felt good heading into singles. As the first 3 singles were getting underway Jackie Vitale raced out to a huge lead at 3 singles, and her opponent had to eventually retire. It was clear watching that match she was starting to regain the form she showed at the end of last semester. 1 and 2 singles were different stories as both players were feeling the effects of 6 high level matches in one weekend. Megan Kasten played well from the start at 4 singles and dominated 6-2, 6-1. Lauren Aguilar and Erika Williams were the last two matches to go on sometime around 12:00am. When both players got on the court we were down 2-4 and with Megan looking good to make it 3-4 they knew it would be up to them to get the match. Both players took their opening sets, but their opponents came back strong in their respective second sets, and both matches went to decisive third sets. Both Lauren and Erika found themselves down at some point in their second sets. Erika at one point was down 1-5 and roared back to force the set into a tiebreaker. Lauren was down 3-4 and came back to force the set into a breaker as well. Unfortunately for the 'Hawks these two tiebreakers had different outcomes. Lauren was victorious in her tiebreak, while Erika's opponent stepped up to hit some timely shots to win her tiebreak. Giving Skidmore the 5-4 win. The match didn't finish till 2:00am, and while we were disappointed about the loss. I can say we were all happy to get back to the hotel and sleep.
For individual match scores from either the DePauw or Skidmore matches click here
Overall, I don't believe this is how we envisioned our ITA Indoor Nationals debut going. It was clear early on we were rusty, but I like the improvement I saw in the team from match to match. they showed by the end that they have the fight they need to be victorious down the stretch, and I can't wait to see what they accomplish.
No comments:
Post a Comment