Cheney, Wash. - With the Big Sky Conference tournament right around the corner, the Eastern Washington University women's tennis team came through on its Senior Day, earning a crucial 5-2 victory against Portland State, Sunday, April 10.
With the win, Eastern improved to 11-9 on the season and 5-4 in league play. The victory marked a huge stepping-stone on EWU's path to its first Big Sky tournament appearance since 2009. Not only did the team eliminate seventh place PSU from tournament contention, they opened up multiple paths to a post-season entrance. Sitting at fifth place in the league standings, the Eagles' tournament chances are in their hands.
Against Portland State, senior Moira Hedberg and sophomore Rachel Swindell opened play with a dominant doubles victory over Dane Vorster and Taylor Rees 6-1. Eastern secured the doubles point immediately after when junior Katrina Domingo and junior Erin Blessing took down Sabina-Elena Preda and Kelsey Frey 6-2.
The match quickly advanced to a 3-0 advantage for the Eagles when they won back-to-back victories in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. Sophomore Janaya Smith had a strong victory against Vorster 6-2, 6-3, while Hedberg played in her final home match, defeating Siena Peri 6-2, 7-5. EWU shut down the Vikings' comeback attempts in the next two matches, clinching the match win. Swindell opened her match against Frey with a big win in the first set 6-2. Despite dropping the second set 6-1, Swindell ended the back-and-forth match on top, winning the final set 6-1. In the No. 3 spot, freshman Faye Worrall beat Tracy Dong in a lengthy, three-set match, 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (11-9).
It was Senior Day for Moira Hedberg, as she is now 7-12 in dual matches and 13-4 in doubles. Faye Worrall leads the team in the spring, with a 13-6 singles record.
"This was a huge win for our program," said head coach Dustin Hinson. "We've been talking about finishing strong and believing in our abilities as we approach the end of the season. We earned it out there today. We had a great week of training and used that to give us confidence going into the match. I was really proud of our hunger and fight on each point. We came out firing in doubles and were inspired by our senior, Moira Hedberg. We kept it going into singles and fought off some push back by Portland State in all of our singles matches. We are excited to see what we can do this next weekend in Montana. We will keep training hard to finish strong."
The Eagles have just two more matches on the schedule, as they play Montana State next, on Friday, April 15, starting at 2 p.m. PST.
Results:
Eastern Washington - 5
Portland State - 2
Doubles:
1. SMITH, Janaya/WORRALL, Faye (EWU) vs. PERI, Siena/DONG, Tracy (PSU) 3-4, unfinished
2. HEDBERG, Moira/SWINDELL, Rachel (EWU) def. VORSTER, Dane/REES, Taylor (PSU) 6-1
3. DOMINGO, Katrina/BLESSING, Erin (EWU) def. PREDA, Sabina-Elena/FREY, Kelsey (PSU) 6-2
Singles:
1. SMITH, Janaya (EWU) def. VORSTER, Dane (PSU) 6-2, 6-3
2. HEDBERG, Moira (EWU) def. PERI, Siena (PSU) 6-2, 7-5
3. WORRALL, Faye (EWU) def. DONG, Tracy (PSU) 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (11-9)
4. PREDA, Sabina-Elena (PSU) def. BLESSING, Erin (EWU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
5. SWINDELL, Rachel (EWU) def. FREY, Kelsey (PSU) 6-2, 1-6, 6-1
6. REES, Taylor (PSU) def. LOPEZ, Carolina (EWU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
