By: The Prairie Fire took an important 2-1 lead after doubles and held on for a 6-3 win over IC on Wednesday night.
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's tennis team fell in its Midwest Conference opener on Wednesday night, losing a tight 6-3 battle to Knox College at the Bellatti Tennis Complex. The Lady Blues drop to 2-2 (0-1 MWC) on the season.
Knox won the opening point of the match with a fairly routine 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles. Illinois College squared the match at 1-1 however, with
Kalisa Goertz and
Madelyn Deardorff getting the win at No. 3 doubles. After going down 4-1 in No. 2 doubles,
Ariel Rhoades and
Lena Reed came back and had a match point before the Prairie Fire came back, broke serve, and eventually earned a 9-7 win to take a 2-1 lead.
In singles,
Sally Hixson and Goertz earned points for the Lady Blues but it wasn't enough. At No. 1, Hixson was a 7-6(4), 6-3 winner over Emily Miller. Goertz downed Maddie Schacht by a score of 6-3, 7-5.
Knox took the other four singles matches to get the win. Reed came the closest to earning IC another point. The sophomore won her first set, 6-4, before falling 3-6 and 1-6 to close out the match against Miranda Corbett.
Lisa Noggle, Rhoades and Deardorff all lost in straight sets.
Illinois College will continue MWC play with three road matches in Wisconsin this weekend. The Lady Blues start off the trip on Sept. 9 against Lawrence University at 9 a.m. and Ripon College at 2 p.m.
