JACKSONVILLE/MONMOUTH, Illinois – The Ripon women's tennis program continued Midwest Conference play on Saturday, falling 6-1 at Illinois College and 5-2 at Monmouth in its last true road matches of the fall.
Ripon (1-10, 0-4 MWC) found itself in an early 1-0 hole against Illinois College (9-4, 1-2 MWC), losing the doubles point after dropping courts one and two. However,
Allison Pavlovec and
Catherine Skoglund managed a 6-4 win on court three to spark the Red Hawks leading into doubles.
Singles was competitive in the opening sets, though IC took five first sets and made it a 3-0 lead after straight-set wins on the fifth and third courts.
The Lady Blues clinched the match with three more straight-set wins on courts four, six and one, though
Josie Rondestvedt picked up a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory on the second line to round out the match and highlight Ripon's morning.
In the second match, doubles were competitive from the start. Monmouth (1-6, 1-3 MWC) picked up a 6-2 win on the top court, while Ripon's team of Pavlovec and Skoglund won 6-2 on the third line. The all-important doubles point came down to court two, where the Scots picked up a 7-5 win to take a 1-0 lead heading into singles.
Though Monmouth won four first sets, Ripon made a charge in singles. Pavlovec was a 6-2, 6-1 winner on court five, while
Isabella Engstrom secured a dominant 6-0, 6-0 win on the sixth line. Monmouth picked up a straight-set win on the top court, and the teams were tied at two with three courts remaining.
Hadley Berendsen forced an important third set on court three, but the Scots managed straight-set victories on the second and fourth lines to secure the victory. Monmouth finished off the afternoon by winning court three to take the match 5-2.
NEXT UP: Ripon returns home to face Grinnell (9 a.m.) and Cornell (3 p.m.) on Saturday, October 5 to round out its Midwest Conference slate.
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