ST. PAUL, Minn. - At long last, the University of Northwestern Women's Tennis team has played at home. After beginning the season with two road matches and 15 neutral ones, the Eagles took to the Johnson Tennis Complex on Wednesday in front of a home crowd for their home opener against Hamline University. The Pipers were able to play spoiler, winning by a 6-1 score.
Hamline set the tone for the rest of the match in doubles, taking the No. 3 match over
Hannah Hyttsten (Becker, Minn./Becker) and
Macie Ruddy (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) by a 6-0 score, and soon defeating the No. 2 team of
Aby Ross (Chico, Calif./Central) and
Anne Clarke (Granite Falls, Minn./Yellow Medicine East), 4-6. In the No. 1 doubles bout,
Rein Hayashi (Kyoto, Japan/Kansai Christian School) and
Sarah Langridge (Savage, Minn./Prior Lake) also came up empty, losing 3-6.
Singles matches belonged to the Pipers as well. First off was Ross, who fell 1-6, 0-6 in her No. 3 singles match. Clarke also came up short at No. 5 singles, 0-6, 2-6, and
Abby Cimenski's (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) 3-6, 3-6 loss at No. 6 officially clinched the team win for Hamline. After Hyttsten suffered a 0-6, 3-6 defeat in the No. 6 spot, Langridge came through to produce UNW's only point of the day, winning 7-5, 6-2 at No. 2. The match concluded with the No. 1 tilt, where Hayashi fell in a hard-fought, 5-7, 4-6 match.
Northwestern will continue a busy week on Saturday with a pair of non-conference matches in Collegeville, Minnesota. The Eagles will take on Saint Benedict at 1:00 PM and Crown at 4:00.
