HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - The Lake Superior State (LSSU) women's tennis team (2-6) concluded their trip to Hilton Head Island with a 1-3 record in the Palmetto State, including picking up a 6-1 victory over Assumption on Monday.
After LSSU's first match of the week against Florida Southern, the Lakers started off their second match with an early 1-0 advantage in doubles play over the Assumption Greyhounds. The duo of Maddie Whip (Sydney, Australia) and Valentina Parodi (Albissola Marina, Italy) wasted no time to take the No. 2 doubles match by a margin of 6-0, but the Greyhounds managed to knot up the score by taking the top doubles spot, turning all eyes to Julia Fraile Raton (Sant Cugat, Spain) and Martina Oviedo (Cordoba, Argentina) in the No. 3 doubles match. Then, with the doubles point on the line, Fraile and Oviedo grinded out a competitive 7-5 victory to secure the lead going into singles play.
In singles play, Whip continued her dominance on the day with a 6-2, 6-1 win at the No. 3 spot, and Trinity Ly (Brampton, Ont.) extended the lead to 3-0 after a 6-1, 7-5 victory in the No. 2 match. Then, after taking the first set by way of a 7-3 tiebreaker, Tayla Brasier (Bathurst, Australia) secured the second win of the season for the Lakers with a 7-6, 6-2 win at the top singles position. Parodi and Fraile also picked up respective wins of 6-4, 6-2 and 6-3, 6-1, and Oviedo was narrowly defeated in a 12-10 super-tiebreaker as the Greyhounds just avoided the clean sweep by LSSU.
The Barton Bulldogs defeated the Lakers by a margin of 4-0 on Wednesday, despite a 6-1 doubles victory by Whip and Parodi, and Whip was also able to force a decisive third set in her singles match as well.
In their final match in South Carolina on Thursday, Brasier and Ly earned a 6-2 win at the top doubles position, but the Tiffin dragons were able to take the other two doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Whip, Parodi, and Ly were able to help the Lakers battle back with three straight singles victories to knot up the match at 3-3, However, the Dragons managed to pick up three wins of their own to narrowly escape with the win.
The Lakers will now turn their attention to GLIAC play when they host the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals on Saturday, March 23 with the first serve scheduled for 10 a.m.