Like most college students, the Hillsdale College women’s tennis team headed south for spring break. But instead of lazing on the beach, the team was hard at work preparing for their spring season.
During their four-day trip to Florida, the Chargers’ training took the form of beach workouts as well as competing in two matches against highly-ranked opponents that count towards the team’s spring record.
On Monday evening, Hillsdale fell 7-2 to their first foe Palm Beach Atlantic, which is nationally ranked.
“They were a strong team and were just able to outlast us on a few singles courts. The match was a lot closer than the score made it look,” head coach Nikki Walbright said.
The two wins can be attributed to doubles matches. At No. 2 doubles, freshman Corinne Prost and senior Sydney Delp pulled out an 8-6 victory. At No. 3 doubles, junior Dana Grace Buck and freshman Madeline Bissett also won 8-6.
Walbright said she was proud of the girls’ strong performances in doubles.
There were no other wins for the Chargers on Monday, but both freshman Julia Formentin and Delp stretched their single matches into three sets, losing in tiebreakers at 4-6, 6-1, 12-10 and 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 respectively.
“I had a very long match and ended up losing in a tiebreak,” Formentin said. “Sydney also had a great performance in singles. She lost in a tiebreak, but fought hard for every point.”
The following day, the Chargers were shut out 7-0 by another challenging foe, Florida Atlantic. Each singles match ended in straight sets. Again, Walbright said she was impressed with the team’s doubles matches on Tuesday.
“Their team was just a higher level and it was tough to keep up,” Walbright said. “But the girls did great and it showed us a lot of good things to work on.”
While she wished they could have won the matches, Formentin said her favorite part of the experience was training and traveling with the team.
“The team is very fortunate to have this opportunity,” Formentin said. “Traveling together is a great bonding experience and competing in a different climate against different types of teams is very beneficial and helps to improve our game.”
While Hillsdale is just kicking off their spring season, Buck said many teams in Florida are mid-season, making the competition even more stiff.
A native of Florida, Buck said she enjoyed playing teams and previous opponents from her home state. Training alone on a club team back home, she said the chance to come back to Florida and compete with a team made the hard work worth it.
“It’s just you versus everyone else. It was really fun to be back where I grew up, but to be experiencing it with a team shows you what you were working for growing up,” Buck said. “It really is about the team.”
Overall, Walbright said their week in Florida will serve as a guide for the rest of the spring season.
“It definitely helps guide our spring goals and remind us of what we need to work on,” she said.