The Hillsdale College women's tennis team was competitive and picked up a couple of victories on the court, but ultimately came up short in a tight 5-2 loss to host Palm Beach Atlantic in the final match of its spring break trip to Florida on Wednesday.
Palm Beach Atlantic took the doubles point and an early 1-0 lead despite a dominant victory at No. 2 doubles by Hillsdale's team of freshman Ane Dannhauser and junior Courtney Rittel, who blanked the opposing team in a 6-0 win. The Chargers' No. 1 doubles team of sophomore Megan Hackman and senior Melanie Zampardo also put up a tough fight but ultimately fell 6-4 to the Sailfish in a close match.
In singles play, Rittel pulled out a stirring come-from-behind victory for the Chargers at No. 6 singles, bouncing back from a tiebreak loss in the first set to win the second set 6-4 and take a 10-4 super-tiebreak in the third set over Palm Beach Atlantic's Jelsyvette Croes. Hillsdale got another point from junior Libby McGivern at No. 3 singles, as McGivern built a 5-2 lead in the first set before her opponent retired.
The Chargers found it tough sledding at the other four singles positions, however. Zampardo came close to a victory at No. 2 singles in a well-played, hard-fought match that went to a third-set tiebreak as well, falling 10-7 to Palm Beach Atlantic's Alina Hoermann in the decisive super-tiebreak.
Hillsdale is now 3-9 on the season, and will look to get on a roll with the start of Great Midwest Athletic Conference play in 10 days. The Chargers open the league schedule at home with a match against visiting Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday, followed by a match against G-MAC newcomer Thomas More on Sunday.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan