By: The Lady Blues lost a 5-4 match to Ripon College in the opener on Saturday, before dropping a 9-0 decision to St. Norbert at the end of the day.
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's tennis team dropped a heartbreaker to Ripon College on Saturday morning, falling to the Red Hawks, 5-4. Later in the day, a solid St. Norbert team claimed a 9-0 win over the Lady Blues, dropping IC to 2-10 (1-8 Midwest Conference) leading into tomorrow's regular season finale.
Leading off the day, Ripon took a 2-1 lead after the doubles round and it proved to be a critical lead as the match progressed. Only the No. 1 team of
Kathryn Ryan and
Tamar Norville could get a point on the board for the Lady Blues, as they won an 8-4 match over Maddie Vanden Houten and Courtney Olson.
In singles, both Ryan and Norville won their matches at Nos. 1 and 2 in straight sets, but that was offset by losses by
Lisa Noggle and
Valerie Escudero at Nos. 3 and 6. With Ripon leading 4-3,
Brianna Pohlman defeated Samantha Kiesner at No. 5 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-4 to square the match at 4-4. In the final match to finish, Ripon's Morgan Makar was able to outlast
Jovanna Chavez at No. 4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to give the Red Hawks the win.
St. Norbert had less trouble earning the victory in the afternoon session. Ryan and Norville put up a good fight at No. 1 doubles but fell 8-5 and the Lady Blues were down 3-0 going into singles. In the six singles matches, the Green Knights won each in straight sets, with only Ryan and Pohlman providing much in the way of resistance. Ryan fell at No. 1 by a score of 6-3, 6-4 to Elizabeth Manlick. At No. 5, Pohlman lost to Ashley Randazzo by an identical 6-3, 6-4 count.
Illinois College hosts its final match of the season tomorrow against Lawrence University beginning at 10 a.m.
