NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's tennis team fell in an 8-1 final against regionally-ranked Hope on Tuesday afternoon.

 

All three doubles matches were tightly contested on the day. The two doubles tandem of Meredith Heckert and Kalyn Borger battled back from an early deficit as Heckert held serve and the pair broke serve to go ahead 4-3. The Belles had a 5-4 lead but had their serve broken to knot things up at 5-5 before their Hope counterparts took the 8-5 final. Lucy Chamberlin and Alayna Campbell dueled back and forth throughout their entire one doubles match, which featured a first game which lasted over 10 minutes. The overall score for the one doubles pair was not at all indicative as to how close the match was, and the duo broke serve late in the match to stay alive trailing 7-1. Alayna Campbell then served more than 10 deuce opportunities before the freshman and Chamberlin ultimately came up short in an 8-1 final against a Hope tandem who are regionally-ranked. Nikki Rust and Kathleen McLeod, meanwhile, held serve and then broke serve to gain a 2-1 lead at three doubles. Ahead 3-2 a short while later, the pair extended their lead to 5-2 and 6-3. McLeod had her serve broken before their Hope counterparts held serve to make it a 6-5 score. Rust then held serve for a 7-5 lead, but Hope kept the match going by taking the next game to make it 7-6. The fourth deuce opportunity was the winning chance as McLeod held serve to lift the Belles three doubles tandem to an 8-6 win.

 

Meredith Heckert shouldered a 6-1, 6-1 setback at three singles, and Kalyn Borger was on the short side of a 6-0, 6-0 final at five singles. Lucy Chamberlin took the opening game of her match and had several long rallies but was unable to overtake her regionally-ranked counterpart at one singles in a 6-1, 6-1 match. Alayna Campbell had a strong start against another regionally-ranked singles player from the Flying Dutch as the freshman built a lead in the first set of her two singles match but fell in a 6-4, 6-0 competition. Nikki Rust had a 6-1, 6-3 setback at six singles. Kathleen McLeod had a tightly-contested 6-2, 6-3 match at four singles, but the junior came up just short in the final.

 

Katie Hunter and Bailey Siglow competed in both exhibition doubles and singles matches on the day for the Belles. The pair were on the short end of an 8-0 exhibition doubles contest. Hunter fell 8-0 in an exhibition singles match, and Siglow fell in a 6-1 exhibition singles match.

 

The Belles (7-10, 4-3 MIAA) have a short turnaround as they travel to Albion for a 4:00 p.m. conference match against the Britons on Wednesday.

 

Hope College 8, Saint Mary's College 1
 Singles competition
1. #14 Sydney Jackson (HOPE) def. Lucy Chamberlin (SMC) 6-1, 6-1
2. #22 Sullivan Patel (HOPE) def. Alayna Campbell (SMC) 6-4, 6-0
3. Annika Weeber (HOPE) def. Meredith Heckert (SMC) 6-1, 6-1
4. Saydee Johns (HOPE) def. Kathleen McLeod (SMC) 6-2, 6-3
5. Alexi Lewis (HOPE) def. Kalyn Borger (SMC) 6-0, 6-0
6. Miyako Coffey (HOPE) def. Nikki Rust (SMC) 6-1, 6-3

 Doubles competition
1. #9 Sydney Jackson/Sullivan Patel (HOPE) def. Lucy Chamberlin/Alayna Campbell (SMC) 8-1
2. Saydee Johns/Taylor Truman (HOPE) def. Meredith Heckert/Kalyn Borger (SMC) 8-5
3. Kathleen McLeod/Nikki Rust (SMC) def. Annika Weeber/Miyako Coffey (HOPE) 8-6

Match Notes:
Hope College 15-7, 7-0 MIAA; Regional ranking #9
Saint Mary's College 7-10, 4-3 MIAA
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,5,1,2,6,4)
Exhibitions:
Lewis/Riebschleger (HOPE) def. Hunter/Siglow (SMC), 8-0
Riebschleger (HOPE) def. Hunter, 8-0
Stamatopoulos (HOPE) def. Siglow, 6-1