Box Score
MEADVILLE, Pa. – It would take over four hours, and come down to the final match on the courts before a winner emerged from the non-conference clash between Allegheny College and Case Western Reserve University on Wednesday afternoon inside the David V. Wise Center. As the final match on court, Janna Dickerson, at flight six singles, sent the home crowd home happy winning her singles match, 6-1, 7-5, and giving the Gators (9-5, 0-0 NCAC) the upset win over the Spartans (7-6).
MEADVILLE, Pa. – It would take over four hours, and come down to the final match on the courts before a winner emerged from the non-conference clash between Allegheny College and Case Western Reserve University on Wednesday afternoon inside the David V. Wise Center. As the final match on court, Janna Dickerson, at flight six singles, sent the home crowd home happy winning her singles match, 6-1, 7-5, and giving the Gators (9-5, 0-0 NCAC) the upset win over the Spartans (7-6).
Through doubles play to start the team match, the Spartans took a 2-1 lead with wins in flights one and two doubles. Elyse Schmitt and Deborah Landau, in flight three doubles, came away with an 8-4 win.
Singles play was played very close between the two teams as three of the six singles matches went to the decisive 10-point super breakers. Carrying over her momentum from the doubles win, Schmitt, at flight four singles, dropped the first set 3-6, but bounced back for the win in the second set 6-4, and overcame a 7-3 deficit in the 10-point super breaker to win it 10-8, giving the Gators the first win of singles play, and knotting the match two-all.
Back-to-back winning finishes at flights three and two pushed the Spartans back in front 4-2 and put the Gators in must-wins in the remaining matches on court. Faced with a tough test in the regionally-ranked no. 6 singles player Erika Lim, Allegheny rookie Carolyn Shetter, at flight one singles, staved off elimination for the Gators with a straight sets win, 6-4, 7-6(3). It is Shetter's first career win over a regionally-ranked opponent.
A super breaker win by Deborah Landau at flight five singles, 6-4, 6-7(1), 10-7 knotted the match four-all and set up the winner-take all scenario for the final match on court.
With the match in the balance, Dickerson had taken the first set with relative ease 6-1, but the match got very close in the second set. With Dickerson up 5-4 in the second set, and serving at 40-15 for the match, the Spartans' Evelyn Qi rallied to break Dickerson's serve to level the set at 5-5. Dickerson would answer back, breaking Qi's serve to push the match 6-5 in her favor. Dickerson would hold serve and ended the marathon match with her win in flight six singles, 6-1, 7-5.
The Gators will look to ride the momentum of their upset win into the stretch run of their schedule, with the remainder of their scheduled matches all against NCAC opponents. First up in that pivotal stretch is a meeting with Kenyon College on the road this Friday, April 12th. The match is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.
