The Houghton College Women's Tennis team dropped a heartbreaking contest Saturday afternoon in a dramatic match against St. John Fisher College. The Highlanders were celebrating their seniors in this match, but unfortunately fell to Fisher with a final score of 7-2.
Leading the way for the Highlanders was senior captain,
Erin Haley. Haley teamed up with
Elise Swanson at the first doubles position winning a great match 8-7 (7-5) for the lone doubles victory for Houghton. Fisher would grab second and third doubles, but they would not do so easily with each match having to be decided in a tiebreaker.
Chloe Esch and
Maddison Soth came up just shy at the second pairing 8-7 (8-6), and
Hialeah Johnson and
Tessa Brown were edged barely 8-7 (7-3).
The high stakes drama and tight matches would continue right into singles action. With four courts running into lengthy affairs, the match would have to be briefly suspended and moved to the Kerr-Pegula Field House due to a lack of daylight. Haley would once again shine under the pressure stealing her second singles match 7-5, 4-6, 10-8 in the third set tiebreaker.
Elise Swanson also battled relentlessly at the first singles position falling just short 7-5, 6-4. At the fifth singles spot,
Tessa Brown could not get past her opponent falling 6-3, 7-5 in a close contest. The final match of the evening was at the sixth and final position with freshman
Hialeah Johnson fighting back from a set down to force a third. Johnson would eventually fall 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
"I couldn't be more proud of this team and the contribution of each and every one of these seniors," Head Coach
Zach Shilvock said post match. "All of these ladies deserved better today, but sometimes the bounces just don't go your way. We could have easily been up 3-0 after doubles. This team continuously positions itself in opportunities to win, and eventually those results will begin to show. Hopefully as we ride into the final week of the regular season and post season, the hard work and effort will reveal itself."
The Highlanders will take the rest of the weekend off and then travel to SUNY Cortland on Tuesday at 3pm for a non-conference bout.
