Tennis loses to national title contender Northwood, 9-0

September 19, 2005 —

The SVSU tennis team, coming off a dominating performance, lost at Northwood Tuesday, 9-0.

The Timberwolves, tied for first in the GLIAC, won the same way SVSU had beaten Ashland the week prior. In that match, the Cardinals gave up only three game points in singles and doubles play.

"We ran into a team that is in contention to win a national championship in Division II tennis," said head coach Mike Major. "It isn't that we played poorly or had a let down following our win on Saturday (against Ashland), it was just a situation of Northwood having one of their best teams ever."

Senior Brooke Kennedy was the lone bright spot for the Cards, as she took five games from NU's Kristina Bogdanovic. Bogdanovic had not lost two games in a set all year.

"I was very pleased with the second set of the singles match played by Brooke Kennedy," Major said. "To go 6-4 with a player who hadn't lost more than two games in a set all year was a positive for us."

Only senior Lacie Rudoplh and freshmen Katie Hanover and Danielle Coldren, along with Kennedy, were able win a game in singles competition.

Coldren and junior Maggie Dodson gave the Northwood team of Desiree Roset and Cristina Oliveira trouble before losing 8-4 in doubles.

"The number three doubles match was fairly close at 8-4, and our number one and number two doubles teams pushed them more than the score indicated," said Major, who noted the other 8-0 and 8-1 doubles losses. It just comes down to moving to the proper position on the court on every point, with no exceptions."

He added, "We played hard. One of the things that I demand is near perfection in our doubles movement."

Up next for SVSU is the ITA Regional, held in Midland today and tomorrow.

Some of the best schools and players in Division II will be competing at the event.

According to Major, his team is built around depth and it is that depth that could be an advantage for the Cardinals.

"This is a completely open draw, so our number six singles could play another school's number one," he said. "It's always interesting to see how those matches turn out."