GOSHEN, Ind. - After falling behind early 2-1 after doubles play, the Goshen College Maple Leafs made a furious rally during singles matches to close the gap to 4-4, before eventually falling just short as St. Francis pulled away in the final match to win a close 5-4 battle.
Though the Leafs dropped two of three doubles matches at # 2 and # 3 to the Cougars, the # 1 team of senior Anika Baumgartner and sophomore Mimi Salvador got back on track in a big way by making quick work of the USF # 1 combination of Brittany Barger and Rebecca Faber and posted a convincing 8-2 win. With the win, the Baumgartner / Salvador combination is now 3-2 on the season.
Baumgartner continued her dominance at # 1 singles by taking control of her match early against USF's Brittany Barger and putting her away in straight sets 6-1, 6-2. Salvador continued the momentum at # 2 singles by gutting out a hard fought match against Grace Heist. Salvador won the first set on her sixth set point in the tiebreaker, before turning it up in the second set (after getting down 0-1) and winning six straight games to earn the 7-6 (6), 6-1 victory.
Head Coach Doug Gossman also praised the play of sophomore Joelle Friesen for her 6-4, 7-5 win over the Cougars' Courtney Witte at # 5 singles. "It was great to see Joelle play well, win her close match, and get her first conference win of the season," said Gossman.
The loss brings the Maple Leaf record to 1-5 (0-4 in the Crossroads League). Goshen takes on non conference foe Anderson University at home on Saturday at 1:00 pm, and then returns to conference play at home Tuesday, September 9th, when they host Huntington University at 4:00 pm.
Complete Results: St. Francis 5, Goshen 4
Doubles:
1.) Baumgartner / Salvador (G) def. Barger / Faber 8-2
2.) Heise / Richerson (SF) def. Thomas / Epp 8-3
3.) Witte / Victoria King (SF) def. Friesen / Klink 8-3
Singles:
1.) Anika Baumgartner (G) def Brittany Barger 6-1, 6-2
2.) Noemi Salvador (G) def Grace Heise 7-6(6), 6-1
3.) Rebecca Faber (SF) def Joanna Epp 6-1, 6-0
4.) Shelby Richerson (SF) def Maria Thomas 6-3, 6-1
5.) Joelle Friesen (G) def Courtney Witte 6-4, 7-5
6.) Sydney Ford (SF) def Jessica Klink 6-3, 6-1
