Belles Tame Cougars

• The Belles claimed all three doubles flights and five of six singles flights.
• Two and one doubles flights came back from 4-3 deficits to win 8-4.
• Saint Mary's won the first seven completed matches.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's tennis team was strong in an 8-1 win over Saint Francis (Ind.) at the Eck Tennis Pavilion on Friday night.

Maddie Minaudo and Margaret Faller opened up the night with the first final for the Belles. After trailing 4-3, the pair rattled off the next five games in a row to claim an 8-4 victory at two doubles. Kaity Venters and Andrea Fetters rallied back from an early 2-1 deficit to take the 8-3 win at three doubles. Sam Setterblad and Monica Davy, much like Minaudo and Faller, fell behind 4-3 but rallied to take the 8-4 win at one doubles to put the Belles ahead 3-0.

Margaret Faller put Saint Mary's a win away from clinching the match after a dominant 6-2, 6-0 win at four singles. Maddie Minaudo finished just a few moments later to clinch the team victory as the sophomore held off her five singles opponent 6-4 in the opening set before cruising to a 6-0 second set final.

Sam Setterblad took her opening set 6-1 but had a comeback effort stopped in the second set by a 6-3 score to force the ten-point super tiebreaker. The junior battled her way to a 10-7 win in the tiebreaker for the three singles decision. After winning several marathon points, Monica Davy ground out a hard-fought 6-4, 6-2 win at two singles.

Similarly, Andrea Fetters had some gruelingly long points at number one singles. The senior battled back from an early 3-0 deficit to force a set tiebreaker before being edged 8-6. In the second set, Fetters trailed 5-2 prior to pulling within 5-4, but the comeback was ended short in a 6-4 final. Kaity Venters took a 6-1 first set win at six singles before her counterpart forced a super tiebreaker with a 6-3 second set win. Venters, however, went ahead early and closed out the win by a 10-7 score.

The Belles (2-1) host Wittenberg on Saturday at the Lakeland Athletic Club in Niles starting at 1:30 p.m.

Saint Mary's College 8, Saint Francis (Ind.) 1
Singles competition
1. Grace Heise (SFU) def. Andrea Fetters (SMC) 7-6 (8-6), 6-4
2. Monica Davy (SMC) def. Brittany Barger (SFU) 6-4, 6-2
3. Sam Setterblad (SMC) def. Shelby Richardson (SFU) 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7)
4. Margaret Faller (SMC) def. Hannah Haas (SFU) 6-2, 6-0
5. Maddie Minaudo (SMC) def. Courtney Witte (SFU) 6-4, 6-0
6. Kaity Venters (SMC) def. Kaylin Gibson (SFU) 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7)

Doubles competition
1. Sam Setterblad/Monica Davy (SMC) def. Brittany Barger/Rebecca Faber (SFU) 8-4
2. Margaret Faller/Maddie Minaudo (SMC) def. Shelby Richardson/Hannah Haas (SFU) 8-4
3. Andrea Fetters/Kaity Venters (SMC) def. Kaylin Gibson/Courtney Witte (SFU) 8-3

Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (4,5,3,2,1,6)
A-59