After a tough start to the season, the Hillsdale College women's tennis team is once again catching fire in conference play.

The Chargers rattled off a third-straight dominant victory on Friday, taking down Cedarville 7-0 in a road victory.

Hillsdale had to hold off Cedarville in a hotly contested doubles portion, getting a 6-2 victory at No. 2 doubles from the team of freshman Ane Dannhauser and junior Courtney Rittel, and clinching the doubles point with a 6-3 victory from the No. 3 pairing of senior Helana Formentin and junior Libby McGivern.

With a 1-0 lead secured, Hillsdale dominated the singles portion, taking all six matches. At No. 1 singles, Dannhauser won a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 match over Diana Ivanikhina of Cedarville to open things up, and senior Melanie Zampardo rolled past Cedarville's Abby Totten 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 singles as well.

McGivern won a thriller at No. 3 singles, outlasting Delia Guzic 10-6 in a third set super-tiebreak to take the match, and there was another thriller at No. 6 singles, as Spinazze won a second-set tiebreak to complete a 6-3, 7-6 (4) sweep of Cedarville's Faith Monson.

Hillsdale also got comfortable straight-sets wins from Formentin at No. 4 singles, 6-3, 6-4, and by Rittel at No. 5 singles, 6-1, 6-0.

The Chargers are now 6-9 overall, 3-0 in conference play, and have an important match against a dangerous Ashland team on the road tomorrow, Saturday, at 1 p.m.

Photo by Anthony Lupi