The Saint Mary’s tennis team extended their winning streak this past weekend with victories over Carthage and North Park by scores of 5-2 and 4-3 respectively. With these two wins, the Belles to improve to 9-3 on the season.
Carthage
Starting in the doubles competition, senior Alayna Campbell and her partner junior Emma Kealy took an effortless 6-1 win in the first match. On the next court over, freshman Shannon Dudy and junior partner Hannah Gerner suffered a close 6-4 loss. On court three, sophomore Anna Gardner and her partner freshman Lanie Brant took the 6-3 win to secure the point.
In singles play, Kealy faced Xingchen Liu at No. 1 but took the loss, dropping the first set 6-2 and the second 6-4. On court two, Campbell took the first singles point for the Belles, winning the first set 6-1 and the second 6-4. Gardener faced off against Giovanna Mendes at No. 3 and also managed a win, taking the first set 7-5 and the second 6-2, and clinching the match for Saint Mary's.
In the four singles match, Dudy bounced back from her doubles loss to take the win over Greta Peterson. She battled to take the first 6-4 and won the second by the same score. Gerner fell on court five to her opponent Maddie Kearney after losing the first set 6-1 and the second set 6-2. In the No. 6 singles competition, Brant came out on top, winning both sets 6-3.
North Park
The Belles took down North Park 4-3 en route to their second win of the weekend.
Starting the doubles competition, Campbell and Kealy lost 6-1 against their opponents Alexandra Ristfeldt and Katja Carlberg. Dudy and Gerner would defeat Emilia Sand and Alexandra Pugachova 6-2 on court two before Gardner and Brant took the 6-3 win over opponents Maddie Starr and Thea Gifvars, securing the doubles point.
Heading into the singles competition, Campbell fell against Ristfeldt. Campbell won the first set 6-3, but lost the second set 7-5 and fell short 10-6 in the deciding tiebreaker. In the No. 2 matchup, Kealy also went to a third set but took a loss against Carlberg. Kealy won the first set 6-3 before dropping the second 6-4 and losing the tiebreaker 10-6. On court three, Dudy lost her match to Pugachova in straights, falling 6-1 in both sets.
In the No. 4 match, Gardner took the first win of the singles competition for the Belles against Sand, sparking the Belles comeback. Despite losing the first set 6-3, Gardner won the second 7-6 and took the tiebreaker 10-3. Brant then took the win against Starr 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5 to knot the match at 3-3. In the No. 6 singles match, Gerner took the win for the Belles as she won the first set 6-2 and the second set 7-5.
Saint Mary's now prepare to host Trine on March 29 starting at 1 p.m.
