As the regular season’s final weekend approaches, the Holy Cross tennis teams have caught fire. The men’s and women’s squads have won a combined nine straight games after a 3-0 start to this week.
Holy Cross men taking advantage of April once again
In recent years, something about the spring season’s third month activated the men’s tennis team. In 2022, Holy Cross started April 6-0, sweeping each of the last five wins. A season later, the Saints opened the month with five consecutive shutouts, going 6-1 across April’s duration.
This year, the Saints have made even more flowers out of the April showers. They are 5-0 with a quintet of sweeps that have pushed their active win streak to seven games. After a defeat of Roosevelt (Ill.) on Saturday, Holy Cross extended that streak to seven with 4-0 takedowns of Bethel (Ind.) at home and St. Francis (Ill.) on the road. The Saints now own an overall record of 8-3 with a 4-0 mark in CCAC play.
In Monday’s match against the Bethel Pilots, the Saints started fast with a pair of 6-3 wins to earn the doubles point. As usual, junior Perry Gregg rolled in the ensuing No. 1 singles matchup, winning his sets 6-3 and 6-0. In No. 2 and No. 4 singles, Bethel challenged the Saints, but Oscar Wai (5-7, 6-2, 6-1) and freshman Adam Singleton (6-2, 3-6, 6-2) prevailed to clinch a Holy Cross victory.
A day later, the Saints made even easier work of St. Francis, winning by a 4-0 count yet again. Gregg and senior Laurenz Flender dominated No. 1 doubles (6-1), combining with a walkover to earn the first Saints point. Wai (6-1, 6-1) and junior Ciaran McCarthy (6-0, 6-0) then posted similar results in singles and another St. Francis walkover wrapped up the match.
To wrap up their regular season, the Holy Cross men will play four home matches across three days this weekend. The Saints will face Indiana Wesleyan on Friday, St. Ambrose (Iowa) on Saturday and both the University of Northwestern Ohio and the University of Chicago on Sunday. Friday’s match begins at 4 p.m.
Saints women pick up second straight win
After dropping two out of three matches between March 28 and April 12, the Holy Cross women’s team has responded well. The Saints followed Saturday’s 4-0 defeat of Roosevelt with a 4-1 Tuesday takedown of St. Francis, improving to 7-2 overall and 3-0 in league play.
Holy Cross and St. Francis split the first two doubles matches, but a walkover in the No. 3 matchup handed the day’s opening point over to the Saints. In singles play, St. Francis secured its lone point in the No. 2 matchup. But the Saints countered with wins in No. 1 singles and the No. 5 matchup, in which senior Diane Maillotte won both her sets with a 6-0 score. A St. Francis walkover in No. 6 singles rounded out a successful day for Holy Cross.
The women’s team will have an added day of rest before hosting St. Ambrose at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The Saints will then close out their regular season on Sunday morning against Northwestern Ohio.
