More than halfway through its season, Saint Mary's may face its toughest competition today in Albion.With a 7-2 victory over Bethel Monday, the Belles (12-4) have won eight of their last nine matches and have a 3-0 record in the conference.Albion (10-4) is the only team in the MIAA with a comparable record, having won 10 of its last 12 with a 3-0 record in the league.Saint Mary's suffered a difficult 9-0 loss to Valparaiso last weekend but looked much stronger in recent victories against Chicago and Bethel.Freshman Grace Gordon won both her singles and doubles matches against Bethel while Kris Spriggle and Kaitlin Cutler won their doubles match to improve to 12-1 on the year.After two straight losses, the No. 1 doubles team of Kate Bowler and Jeannie Knish gained a victory over Bethel to bring their overall record to 7-8.Albion has proven to be the Belles' main rival in the MIAA. Last season, the Britons defeated the Belles for the overall league title, but two years ago the situation was reversed with Saint Mary's beating Albion.With Katie Tornga who received MIAA first-team honors last year as a freshman and the strong doubles team of Emily and Karen Dumas, Albion has easily won all of its league matches this year. Saint Mary's has only had one close league match in a 5-4 victory over Hope. The Belles won 9-0 in their two other league matches this season.Saint Mary's faces Albion at home today at 3 p.m.
