The Belles dominated Trine on the road Tuesday, winning every singles and doubles match handily on the way to a 9-0 victory.
Trine is admittedly one of the weaker teams in the MIAA, said Belles coach Dale Campbell, but the Belles "are playing well," Campbell said.
Although the final tally made it look like it was a one-sided affair, that only held true in the singles matches, Campbell said.
"We're still getting stronger in doubles," Campbell said. "A couple of our matches started out slow, though."
The competition is going to get tougher for the Belles. To keep the winning streak alive, they will need to continue to improve, and there is room for improvement, Campbell said.
"We still need work at the net in doubles," he said. "Our returns and serves could use work, and we still need to attack [the net] more."
The Belles should have various aspects of their game to work on during the weeklong break before their next match against Calvin.
"[Calvin is] one of the better teams, if not the best team, in our conference," Campbell said. "That could be a tough one for us."
The shutout win kept the clean sheet going for junior Jillian Hurley, who has yet to lose at the No. 1 singles spot this year and has not dropped a doubles match with partner Mary Therese Lee since the beginning of the season.
Behind the ever-sharp play of Hurley and the steadily improving play of their doubles squads, the Belles are in top shape to face the toughest stretch of the MIAA schedule in the next few matches.
After the home match against Calvin, the Belles have three straight away matches against Chicago on April 12, then Albion on April 14 and Kalamazoo on April 17. If the Belles can get out of the Calvin match with a win, they will have a full head of steam going into the road stretch, which would give them a commanding presence in the MIAA standings.
