Saint Mary's will need to win its last two matches to secure a .500 conference record after falling at Hope, 8-1,Wednesday.
"Hope is really tough and [was] ready for us," Belles coach Dale Campbell said. "We fought really hard and tried our best and were really close in three or four matches."
The Belles (7-9, 2-4 MIAA) stuck with their lineup changes from the Trine match at both singles and doubles, moving sophomore Franca Peluso up from No. 3 doubles to No. 2 and inserting her into the No. 5 singles slot. Sophomore Mary Therese Lee filled in at No. 3 doubles against the Flying Dutch (14-5, 6-0).
Junior captain Camille Gebert was able to continue her undefeated singles play in the conference defeating Katherine Garcia 6-3, 6-4.
"She hung in well for the long points," Campbell said. "She ran down a lot of balls and outlasted her opponent. Her fitness certainly gives her a lot of confidence."
Sophomore Jillian Hurley fell to Samantha Stille 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, and teamed up with Gebert to fall 8-5 at No. 1 doubles.
Kosinski fell in her No. 3 singles match 6-3, 6-4 against Nicole Spagnuolo, and also teamed up with Lee at No. 3 doubles in an 8-0 loss to Lucy Himes and Beth Olson.
"One of my main goals for the season was to have a stronger mental game," Kosinski said. "I also wanted to be more aggressive on court. I also want to do my best to help the team reach our goal of winning conference."
Sophomore Betsy Reed fell to Danielle Werley 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4 singles after teaming up with Peluso at No. 2 doubles to lose 8-0, against Garcia and Spagnuolo.
Peluso also lost at No. 5 singles 6-4, 6-1 to Mia Savagian, while sophomore Jessica Camp also fell to Himes at No. 6 singles.
The Belles will travel to Adrian Saturday and will look to get back on track in their last two regular season matches before heading to Kalamazoo next weekend for the conference tournament.
"Adrian is not one of the top teams in the conference," Campbell said. "Coming off a couple of tough losses like the one today and the Kalamazoo match, we hope it will give us a chance to breathe and work on a few things before heading to Kalamazoo."
