In their last home match of the spring season on Saturday, the Hillsdale College women’s tennis team blanked Concordia University 9-0. The win lifts the Chargers to a spring season record of 2-1.
“The girls have been working very hard and went in confident against Concordia,” coach Nikki Walbright said. “I think we were overall more experienced and were able to play well on every court.”
Between the three doubles teams, the women only dropped one game. The Delp sisters Morgan and Sydney were 8-0 winners, as were sophomore Jada Bissett and junior Rachel Blaauw at No. 3 doubles. Buck and junior Lindsay Peirce took home an 8-1 win at No. 2 doubles.
“Everyone was doing a great job of focusing on their own match, and more specifically what they’ve been working on in practice and implementing that into the match,” sophomore Dana Grace Buck said.
In singles, Peirce, Buck, and Morgan Delp each won their matches by scores of 6-0, 6-0. Sydney Delp and Amberley Bailey followed with a 6-0, 6-1 score, while Bissett won her two sets by identical 6-1 scores.
“It’s hard to point out one great performance,” Buck said. “I think in the end it’s the whole team. Everyone gave their best, and everyone had great matches.”
With the progression of the spring season, Walbright said the team has showed improvement in endurance and footwork with each match, but will continue working to improve their singles play as well as their mental toughness when facing difficult opponents.
“We really all took specific things from our match last saturday and early practices this week to really hone in on to the match Saturday. Another thing we’ve been focussing on a lot more is pressure filled points,” senior Morgan Delp said. “I think it’s going to help us a lot this upcoming weekend because you can get lax playing the same few teammates over and over in practice, but when the stakes are higher and you’re put into a match situation, it forces you to be physically and mentally tough as well.”
With their matches this weekend, Hillsdale looks forward to wrapping up the spring season.
Buck said that long weekend matches can be taxing both mentally and physically, especially with stiff competition, but believes the team handles the pressure well.
“Our team does a great job at staying fired up,” Buck said. “I think we love the competition and we do a great job of pushing ourselves and each other.”
The Chargers will take on a two-match weekend facing Davenport University in Grand Rapids on Friday then playing against Aquinas College at Spring Arbor on Saturday.
