De Pere, Wis. - The Illinois Tech women's tennis team found themselves in a familiar but even more dire position Saturday afternoon in their road match at St. Norbert: trailing after doubles play and having to come from behind. But as they did in their home match against MSOE Wednesday night, the Scarlet Hawks were able to complete the comeback, even shaking off a 3-1 deficit this time and downing the Green Knights 4-3 to improve to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play. The Green Knights fell to 2-1 overall (2-1 NACC).
"This match really showcased the team's mental fortitude and ability to overcome adversity," said Head Coach
Jack Lunn. "To come from behind like that in a tough road environment took a strong mental and physical team effort and I'm very happy with how we were able to compete."
In doubles play, all three matches were tightly contested, but the Green Knights found a way to secure all three contests to claim the lone doubles point. St. Norbert's number one doubles team of Jordan Domnick and Allison Unverzagt notched a 6-4 win over the Scarlet Hawks'
Martyna Kalinowska and
Thea Salcedo to go up 1-0 in doubles. The Green Knights' number two team of Alyssa Tegen and Irene Multhauf edged out the Hawks'
Maddalena Elisa Rosati Dumangane and
Maia Lecuona Ramos 7-5 to win the second doubles contest and clinch the solo doubles point. In the number three doubles match, the Hawks'
Paige Geiger and
Angelica Conwell battled in an extended set before the Green Knights' Anna Vechart and Anna Krupka won the match 10-point tie-breaker 11-9 for the 7-6 match win.
Trailing 1-0 heading into singles play, the Scarlet Hawks were able to quickly even the match up at 1-1 when Salcedo defeated Vechart 6-1, 6-0 in the number three singles match. But the Green Knights' Madeline Diefenthaler defeated the Hawks' Conwell 6-0, 6-1 in the number six singles match to give St. Norbert the match lead again at 2-1. In the number five singles match, Tegen claimed a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Geiger to put the Green Knights up 3-1 and one point away from the match victory. At this point, the Hawks mounted their comeback effort with three-set match victories in all the remaining singles contests. Rosati Dumangane cut the Hawks' deficit to 3-2 with her 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Unverzagt in the number two singles match. Minutes later, Lecuona Ramos won a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 number four match against Multhauf to even the match at 3-3. That set the stage for the deciding match between the Hawks' Kalinowska and the Green Knights' Domnick in the number one singles contest. After losing the first set 5-7, Kalinowska stormed back to win the next two sets 6-2, 6-1 to clinch the fourth team point and the 4-3 match victory and complete the comeback.
Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks travel to River Forest, Illinois on Tuesday afternoon, September 16th, to take on Concordia Chicago at 3:00pm in another NACC battle.
