The Saint Mary’s tennis team won 7-2 against the Anderson Ravens on Thursday before traveling to Calvin Knights where the Belles lost 2-7.
The Belles swept doubles with senior Meredith Heckert and junior Kalyn Borger opening the competition by winning their match 6-2 at second doubles. For first doubles, freshman Alayna Campbell and junior Lucy Chamberlin prevailed over their opponents 6-1, while junior Kathleen McLeod and senior Nikki Rust also defeated the Ravens 6-2.
While the Belles’ singles did not do as well as their doubles, they still crushed the competition. Starting off for the Belles, Campbell only lost one game, winning in straight sets with a final of 6-1, 6-0. This was followed by two other victories from the Belles, the first by Chamberlin (6-2, 6-0) in first singles and the next by Heckert at three singles. Heckert won the first set (6-3) before she lost the second (1-6) and came back in the tie breaker (10-7). The final singles’ win for the Belles came from Rust who won her matches 6-1 and 7-5. Katie Hunter and McLeod lost 8-4, 8-5 respectively. This led to the Belles taking home their third win of the season 7-2.
Although the Belles had hoped to bring this momentum into their match against the Calvin Knights, they were not successful. The Belles lost all three doubles matches, albeit by close games, and only one two singles matches. The Knights were the Belles first conference match of the year, and it definitely stings to lose by that much. Heckert and Borger opened up for the Belles, losing 8-6. This was followed by the pair of Rust and McLeod, who lost 8-6 in the third doubles spot. While Chamberlin and Campbell were able to keep up with their opponents, they eventually lost 8-7 (8-6).
Saint Marys found slightly more success with singles, but were unable to take the overall lead. To start off the singles, Chamberlain lost 6-3, 6-0 to Emily Schellenboom at first singles before Heckert lost 6-2, 6-4 to her opponent Maggie Shoemaker at third singles. Fourth singles played next, and McLeod took home the first Belles win of the day after a second-set tiebreaker with a score of 6-2, 7-6 (7-5). However, this win was not enough to keep the Belles momentum as Borger lost 6-4, 6-0 at fifth. Campbell would then take the second and only win home for the Belles at two singles with a score of 7-5, 4-6, 11-9. To finish off the day, Rust lost 6-4, 6-0 at the sixth singles spot, securing a Knight win of 7-2.
The Belles look to move past their loss against Calvin as they travel to Olivet on Wednesday at 4 p.m. This will be the second in-conference match for Saint Mary's this season.
