SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Saint Mary's tennis team opened their spring season against a strong Cornerstone program as the visiting Golden Eagles took the match by a 9-0 margin at the South Bend Racquet Club on Saturday.

 

Kathleen McLeod and Nikki Rust were on the short end of an 8-1 final at three doubles. Lucy Chamberlin and Alayna Campbell were unable to rally from a deficit in their one doubles match as the pair fell by an 8-1 margin. Kalyn Borger and Meredith Heckert battled game-for-game in their two doubles match. The pair were within striking distance of their counterparts, trailing 5-4 until Cornertsone broke serve then held serve to go ahead 7-4. Heckert held serve to keep the Belles alive at 7-5 but the pair were unable to make the late comeback in a very competitive 8-5 setback.

 

Kalyn Borger battled in a tough 6-0, 6-0 final at five singles. Meredith Heckert was matching her opponent game-for-game in the first set of her two singles match before coming up short in a 6-2, 6-0 final. Alayna Campbell and Lucy Chamberlin each had numerous long rallies in their respective singles contests, but Campbell was on the short side of a 6-1, 6-1 final at three singles while Chamberlin fell 6-0, 6-2 at one singles. After a 6-1 setback in her opening set, Kathleen McLeod was within a game at 2-1 in the second set but was stopped short in a 6-1 second-set final at four singles. Nikki Rust was the final player on the court on the day as the senior battled from start to finish. She bounced back from a 6-2 loss in the first set to take a 3-2 lead in set two, but back-to-back games by her opponent led to a 4-3 deficit before Rust was stopped 6-3 at six singles.

 

The Belles (0-2) are back in action on Saturday, February 19 when they host both Aquinas and Spring Arbor at the Eck Tennis Pavilion on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. The match against Aquinas is slated to begin at 12:30 p.m.

 

 

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,2,3,1,4,6)