In perhaps its biggest win of the season, the Hillsdale College women's tennis team defeated a dangerous Northwood squad and moved a step closer to locking up a top four finish in the G-MAC in a 4-2 victory on Saturday.

The Timberwolves entered the match shorthanded, with just five players, but as a still-high quality squad who'd already taken four victories in G-MAC play this season despite defaulting every match at three doubles and six singles.

Hillsdale knew it needed a fast start to get an early edge on Northwood, and that's exactly what the Chargers did in a dominant doubles performance. The Chargers' top doubles team of sophomore Ane Dannhauser and freshman Briana Rees, currently ranked 22nd in Division II, showed why they're so highly regarded in rolling over another top 50 ranked doubles squad from Northwood in a 6-1 victory at No. 1 doubles.Hillsdale's No. 2 doubles team of Courtney Rittel and Megan Hackman won a 6-4 match as well to complete a sweep and give the Chargers a 2-0 lead thanks to the doubles point and a Northwood default at No. 6 singles.

The lead meant Hillsdale needed just two singles victories in five matches to pull out the victory. Senior Courtney Rittel gave the Chargers one with a gritty victory at No. 4 singles, taking a first-set tiebreak 7-3 and winning the second set 6-4 to beat Northwood's Giada Campa. That meant when Julia Zlateva's opponent at No. 5 singles retired due to an injury, that gave Hillsdale all the points it needed to clinch the victory.

Hillsdale improves to 10-7 overall with the victory and 5-2 in G-MAC play, currently tied for third place in the loss column with Ashland and Thomas More. However, the Chargers already have a victory over the Saints and both teams still have to play their matches against the top two teams in the G-MAC, Findlay and Tiffin. With the win over the Timberwolves, Hillsdale now has a good chance of snagging the third seed in the G-MAC Tournament and a favorable quarterfinal match if it can finish the regular season with victories at home next week. Hillsdale concludes its scheduled slate with a match next Friday against Cedarville and a showdown with the Eagles on Saturday.