The Oglethorpe women's tennis team earned a 7-2 victory over a solid Covenant team Tuesday afternoon on the Downing Howell Courts, improving their record to 5-7 on the season. The victory marks the team's third in their last four matches.
Coming into the match, it looked to be fairly even on paper, with Covenant having defeated Agnes Scott 5-4 after the Scotties had defeated Oglethorpe by the same margin. The Stormy Petrels had an excellent start to doubles though, as the No. 1 team of freshman Caroline Johnson and junior Katherine Walker took their match 8-3 and the No. 3 team of sophomore Ingrid Wilcox and freshman Halley Sickling followed suit, 9-7. The Petrels had a chance to take a commanding 3-0 lead headed into singles, as the No. 2 team of juniors Marcail McGranahan and MaryAnne Hafen was up 7-6 before falling 9-7.
The 2-1 lead gave the Petrels advantage enough, though. The team got off to a good start in singles with No. 1 Johnson and No. 5 Hafen winning their first sets. Johnson went on to win 6-3, 6-1 while Hafen would fall behind 4-3 in the second set but closed her match out, 6-3, 6-4. Walker dropped her first set but came storming back, clinching the dual match for the Petrels. She finished with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory and the team had their five wins. Finishing things out, Wilcox won in straight sets at No. 4, 6-2, 6-3, while Sickling took a third-set super tiebreak to win her match at No. 6, 6-0, 5-7, 10-8. McGranahan took the team's only loss of the singles competition at No. 3, falling 6-0, 6-2.
"This was a solid win for our team and shows how much the girls have improved since the beginning of the year," said Head Coach Peter Howell. "This was a toss-up match that we took command of. I was very pleased with our doubles play and was especially happy for Katherine Walker, coming back to win in three sets and clinch this match."
The Petrels will re-enter SAA play this weekend, as they'll welcome Birmingham-Southern to the Downing Howell Courts Saturday at noon before taking on Millsaps Sunday at 1 p.m.
