Women's Tennis: Belles clinch Saint Mary's first-ever MIAA title
By KATIE McVOY
Associate Sports Editor
Saint Mary's defeated Calvin 8-1 Wednesday to clinch the regular season MIAA championship for the Belles. The conference championship is the first ever for Saint Mary's.
"We're ecstatic," Belles' co-captain Annie Knish said. "We knew we were going to be a strong team, but we didn't expect to finish in first."
Coming into today's match, Calvin was ranked No. 3 in the MIAA with Saint Mary's holding first. The Belles tied with the Knights last year for second place in the MIAA. A solid team was expected, but clinching the No. 1 spot in the conference was a pleasant surprise.
"They earned it," head coach Dee Stevenson said. "The worked hard. They never quit."
Co-captains Natalie Cook and Knish exemplified that "never quit" motto, playing late into dusk to win the No. 1 doubles point.
"We can always count on our doubles," Stevenson said. "They've been moving together and communicating."
The pair began the game on a low note. They dropped the first set 6-1 to Calvin's Kait Disselkoen and Sally Skodinski. But Cook and Knish didn't let that first set get their spirits down.
"We haven't played doubles since Saturday," Knish said. "We just told ourselves that the set was our warm up."
Knish and Cook took the lead early in the second set and hung on, until Disselkoen and Skodinski came back. The set was tied at six and the two teams had to face off in a tiebreaker.
"We just had to stay up," Cook said. "Fight back and keep the point."
The Belles kept the important point, taking the tiebreaker 8-6. But one tiebreaker wasn't enough for the No. 1 doubles players.
Disselkoen and Skodinski took the first point in the third set and managed to hold onto a one point lead most of the set. Trailing by one point, Knish and Cook started hitting more lobs.
"[Deciding to start lobbing] was the turning point," Cook said.
Lobbing to change the pace, along with a solid net game brought Cook and Knish back from behind to tie the set at six.
Cook and Knish took an easy tiebreaker lead, scoring five points to Calvin's one. But after changing sides on the net, things got sticky again.
The twilight made it tougher to see the ball and both teams were tired.
After nearly two hours on the court, Calvin was unable to return a strong hit and Cook and Knish claimed the victory.
Although five singles victories had already guaranteed a victory for the Belles, doubles play on Thursday will help determine seeding for the MIAA tournament in May.
Winning doubles wasn't the only thing that sent Knish home with a smile Thursday. She claimed her second No. 1 singles victory in a row after a long stretch of losses that were affecting her confidence.
"[Winning] feels amazing," she said. "It feels great to finally have a win. I'm starting to get my confidence back. Today I said `Annie — go for it.'"
Knish won another close match, defeating Disselkoen 6-4, 7-5.
Annie Knish wasn't the only sister to play a close match, however. Freshman Jeannie Knish claimed a close one at No. 3 singles. After dropping her first set 3-6, Knish had to come from behind for the victory.
"The first set I was making a lot of mistakes," Knish said. "[During the second and third sets] I told myself to keep the ball in play and let [my opponent] make the mistakes."
Calvin's Jessica Basma did make the mistakes, and Knish took the next two sets 6-4, 6-2 to win the match. Knish's victory clinched a Saint Mary's win, coming after the other four singles wins.
Freshman Kaitlin Cutler earned a solid 6-0, 6-1 victory at No. 3 singles, Kris Spriggle topped her opponent 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5 singles and sophomore Elisa Ryan wrapped up the singles wins with a 6-2, 6-0 victory at No. 6 singles.
Jeannie Knish and Cutler teamed up at No. 2 doubles and finished off their opponents in two sets, defeating the Knights of Calvin 6-3, 6-3.
Trisha Jones and Ryan won No. 3 doubles in a close two set game. After an easy 6-2 first set victory, Jones and Ryan ended the second set in a tie. They took the tiebreaker 7-5, winning the game 7-6.
The Belles will play on Saturday at home against DePauw and Wheaton. Action kicks off at 9 a.m. Sunday the Belles will take on Kalamazoo on the road at 1 p.m.
All Sports Stories for Friday, April 20, 2001
