The Hillsdale College women's tennis team battled to the end but came up short by a razor-thin margin in a 4-3 loss to a solid Lewis squad on Saturday at home.
The match turned on the doubles point, which was hotly contested. Hillsdale's No. 3 doubles team of Canela Luna and Megan Hackman hung tough but came up short in a 6-4 defeat, and the Chargers' No. 2 doubles team of Libby McGivern and Ellie Chawner forced a tiebreaker but fell 8-6 in the end to the team from Lewis.
The Flyers' victory in doubles meant the Chargers had to win four singles matches to bring home the overall win. Hillsdale got strong performances from junior Melanie Zampardo, who won a 6-1, 6-2 match over Jovana Vujanic of Lewis at No. 2 singles, and from Luna, who rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Benedetta Luccone of Lewis at No. 3 singles.
Chawner, a senior, gave the Chargers their third singles victory at No. 5 singles, rallying from a 6-2 first set loss to beat Grace Sueflohn 6-3, 6-3 and take the point, but Hillsdale just couldn't find the fourth and final point it needed despite hard-fought matches at No. 1 and No. 4 singles.
The Chargers are now 1-3 on the season, and travel to Illinois this Saturday for a match against Purdue Northwest looking to get back on a winning track after multiple narrow defeats.
Photo by Anthony Lupi