The Hillsdale College women's tennis time put up the best fight it could but fell to the top-ranked team in the Midwest Region and the 10th-ranked team in NCAA Division II in a 6-1 road loss at Wayne State on Friday afternoon.
The Warriors showed their strength early on in the match, sweeping all three doubles matches in dominant fashion to claim the doubles point. Hillsdale refused to go down easily in singles play, taking a point off Wayne State at No. 5 singles thanks to a come-from-behind win from junior Courtney Rittel, who bounced back from a 6-1 first-set loss to the Warriors' Justine Beaulieu to take the second set 6-4 and then won a 10-7 super-tiebreak in the third set to claim a big victory.
Freshman Ane Dannhauser also put up a tough fight against a nationally ranked player at No. 1 singles for the Chargers, pushing #48 Anais Ruyssen to a tiebreak in the first set in a narrow 7-6 (1) loss before falling in the second set.
The Chargers fall to 2-6 on the season, and will look to bounce back tomorrow at 2 p.m. as Hillsdale hosts Saginaw Valley State in the Biermann Center for a regional match.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan