The Hillsdale College women's tennis team got a big win to close out the regular season on Saturday, taking down Walsh 4-2 to leapfrog the Cavaliers in the final standings and secure the four seed in next week's G-MAC Tournament.
Hillsdale got the win thanks in part to clutch play to secure the doubles point. The Chargers' nationally ranked pairing of
Briana Rees and
Ane Dannhauser won a 7-5 decision at No. 1 doubles to take the point, after the Chargers' No. 3 doubles team of
Julia Zlateva and
Dimitra Papastavrou rolled to a 6-2 victory as well.
In singles play,
Briana Rees was clutch for the Chargers as well, winning a first-set tiebreak 8-6 to claim a three-set victory, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2 over Walsh' Taira Abildayeva at No. 2 singles. Zlateva completed an undefeated weekend with a critical 6-3, 6-2 victory over the Cavaliers' Eliza Verstappen at No. 3 singles, and
Esther Sura won a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Walsh's Olesya Ivashchuk at No. 5 singles to clinch the match victory.
The Chargers finish the regular season at 12-8 overall, 6-3 in G-MAC play and will look to extend a streak of eight straight G-MAC Tournament semifinal appearances with a win in the quarterfinal round on Thursday in Owensboro, Kentucky. Hillsdale will face a rematch with Walsh in that quarterfinal, in what is sure to be another close and hard-fought match between the two programs who have had many battles in the G-MAC Tourney over the years.