Sept 30 @ Wesleyan

The Cowgirls knew this was to be an uphill battle as they took on the Trojans of Wesleyan.

Having not fared too well last encounter, the Cowgirls wanted to improve upon their past performance.

The Cowgirls started out with a bang on Court 4, close matches on court 1, 5, and 6.  And unfortunately a bit over matched initially on courts 2 and 3.out Lanie last time around, but with the different playing style, Gretchen held strong.  Not dropping a single 

Audrey, having lost in straight sets the first time she and Ms. Redmond played, Both player and coach wanted her to do better...and better she did.  Hangin with every point, keeping the Trojan back on the baseline, Audrey held serve throughout. In addition, Audrey gained a break...6-4 first set. Reapplying the pressure, and the trojan not knowing what to do, Audrey pressed in, breaking her counterpart twice in the second set and taking the victory 4 and 3.    Audrey is peaking at just the right tight since Conference tourney begins next week.

Court 5, featuring Gretchen back in the line up, began quite strong.  Ms. Cross’ opponent left Lanie out to dry last time, but Gretchen’s game proved way different from what she had prepared for today.  On serve through the entire first set, the two ladies drew even at 6 all. Unable to get her mind back in the game, Gretchen lost the tiebreaker and the first set.  Though incredible shots and moments sprinkled through the second set, Gretchen failed to hold serve twice as the Trojan holds on and claimed the victory on court 5.

Lanie’s game hooked up on court #4.  With the Trojan’s true #4 back in the line up, Lanie took her to task blitzing her 6-1 in the first and though the Trojan began to take umbrage at her predicament, she could do little to avoid the 6-0 soul crushing put down doled out by Lanie.

Christina held nicely at court 2, bringing most points to deuce, but had trouble converting those points into games.  Though her shots were bigger than she had had in recent memory, and her backhand was beautiful tonight, she couldn’t stop the tide of the Trojan from washing over her 3 and 1.  

Nicole was playing an uphill match from the start on court 6.  Though close, Nicole’s greatest enemy tonight was shot selection and consistency.  Don’t get me wrong, Nicole hitting was outstanding, but her opponent simply had a better game to hit.  Nicole dropped two serves to her opponent in the 1st set but managed to coax out only one lost serve in the second set.  No, not a win for the Cowgirls, but a new way of addressing the ball resulting in bigger and more confident hits. So we learned something tonight for court 6...and that was worth it all.

Meghan had trouble from the start dropping the first set 1-6.  After a chat with coach, Meghan began stepping up into the shots and not rushing them.  This played well to the cheers of the raucous Whalen clan (no, not really) cheering from the sidelines.  6-4 second set...but out of energy and Whalen could do little in the 3rd set tiebreaker losing the final push 5-10.  

Down 2-4 after singles, only a perfect run through dubs could turn the direction of the overall match back to the Cowgirls.  

We didn’t pull a miracle out.  I know, it is sad. But what we did was hit out from the top down.  We played our game and had 2 major successes and many more minor victories along the way.  Wesleyan has a top notch team that proved simply too much for the Cowgirls this evening. But they did allow the Cowgirls to hit well and work on our games against bigger hitters.

The Cowgirls fell 0-3 in dubs, 2-7 overall in the match.

SW falls to 3-0, 9-3 on the season and will host the Spartans of Mt Tabor (Conference ) on Wednesday

Audrey Serb (SW) over MacLean Redmond (W) 6-4, 6-3

MacKenzie Gilliott (W) over Christina Alentino (SW) 6-3, 6-1

Grace LaFever (W) over Meghan Whalen (SW) 6-1, 4-6, 10-5

Lanie Van Dorp (SW) over Lauren Broderick (W) 6-1, 6-0

Isabella Heinbach (W) over Gretchen Cross (SW) 7-6, 7-0, 6-3

Katie Bullins (W) over Nicole Sopala (SW) 6-3, 6-4

Doubles:

Redmond/ LaFever (W) over Serb/ Alentino (SW) 8-2

Gilliott/ Brodeur (W) over Whalen/ Cross (SW) 8-3

Heinbach/ Bullins (W) over Van Dorp/ Nguyen (SW) 9-7

SW falls to 3-0, 9-3 on the season and will host the Spartans of Mt Tabor (Conference ) on Wednesday