The Oglethorpe women's tennis team earned a comprehensive victory over LaGrange Wednesday afternoon in LaGrange, Georgia, beating them 7-2 in a make-up of a match that was postponed from earlier in the season. With the result, the Stormy Petrels improve to 7-5 on the season.

The afternoon started off very well indeed for the visiting Petrels, as they swept the Panthers in the doubles competition to push out to a 3-0 lead. The closest match was at No. 2 doubles, but freshman Shannon Cruz and sophomore Halley Sickling prevailed, defeating their opponents 8-6. The top doubles pairing of sophomore Caroline Johnson and senior Katherine Walker won their match 8-4 while the No. 3 pairing of senior MaryAnne Hafen and freshman Delaney Abood took down their match 8-3.

That gave the Petrels a commanding lead headed to the singles competition. Johnson and Cruz wasted no time clinching the match for Oglethorpe winning 6-0, 6-0 at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. Junior Ingrid Wilcox and Abood also won their matches in straight sets, Wilcox prevailing 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3 and Abood winning 6-1, 6-3 at No. 6. The two losses were very tight matches at Nos. 4 and 5 that featured tiebreakers aplenty. Hafen took the opening set at No. 4 but eventually lost 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (5). Meanwhile, Sickling got involved in back-to-back tiebreakers, falling in both, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5). 

"This was a good solid win for the women today," said Oglethorpe head coach Peter Howell. "We swept all three doubles and dominated at four of the six singles matches. We lost two very close matches at Nos. 4 and 5, but both Hafen and Sickling were playing up a spot due to injury. Hopefully, we'll be a full strength for the SAA opener against Berry Friday."

The Petrels will host the Vikings at the Downing Howell Courts Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. to open the SAA season. After that, they'll go back out of conference for a couple more matches against Agnes Scott and Covenant, both on the road.