The Hillsdale College women's tennis team's Cinderella run ended on Saturday in the NCAA DII Midwest Regional semifinal at the hands of the top-ranked team in the country.
Indianapolis, the top seed in the region and the favorite to capture the NCAA Tournament crown two weeks from now, defeated the fourth-seeded Chargers 4-0.
Playing shorthanded, the Chargers put up a fight, with the No. 1 doubles team of Canela Luna and Sophia Spinazze and the No. 3 doubles team of Helana Formentin and Tatum Matthews each taking two games off of strong Indianapolis opponents, though the Greyhounds did take the doubles point.
In singles play, Indianapolis quickly won at No. 1, 5 and 6 singles to secure the points necessary to end the match. Although their matches went unfinished, Luna was competitive with UIndy's No. 2 singles player and the eighth-ranked player in the country, Anna Novikova, trailing 6-2, 3-2 when the match was clinched, and Spinazze and Ellie Chawner also battled for the Chargers. Spinazze trailed 6-2, 4-1 to the 14th-ranked player in the country, the Greyhounds' Alina Kislitskaya, at No. 3 singles, and Chawner trailed by an identical score to 46th-ranked Kristina Lagoda at No. 4 singles when the match was called.
Hillsdale finishes the season 7-7 overall, and will always remember this season for the team's special run to the G-MAC Tournament title, beating two higher seeded teams to clinch a suprise NCAA Tourney berth, the program's third straight appearance.
Photo Courtesy of Jordan Menard