MARION, IN - The Women's tennis season has come to a close but the Lady Cougars went down swinging against the Power-House Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats. The Wildcats eliminated Spring Arbor from the Conference Tournament 5-0 but the score wasn't close to describing how close this match actually was.

When these two teams played earlier in the fall, Indiana Wesleyan hardly broke a sweat in defeating SAU 9-0 and the score in games was a dominating 26-96 in the nine matches.

Yesterday's match was a much closer affair as Spring Arbor was coming in with a four match win streak, and went toe-to-toe with IWU and held a much closer game score of 52-84.

Kelly Smith and Becca Kragt lost a close #1 doubles match 6-8 and Hope Roelofs and Kristin DeBruyn fell at #2 doubles 5-8. Jenna Bart and Kelli Cross lost 0-8 at #3 doubles.

With a "First to Five Points" system used in the playoffs, the Cougars had to move quickly in the singles lineups to even have a chance for the upset win over heavily favored IWU. And they managed just that. Cross and Bart each won their first sets 6-2 each and Kragt and Smith both lost their first sets by narrow margins.

But the Wildcats regained momentum and had answers for everything Spring Arbor could throw at them and needing only two points in singles, they got them as Roelofs and DeBruyn each fell in straight sets and the fall season was over.

"The girls played IWU tough, and that's what I was hoping for," said Coach Peggy Calderone. "I was so proud of the way the girls competed. The first match vs. IWU wasn't half the match that this one was. It just shows how much these girls have improved. The girls definitely raised the bar...not only for themselves but for the program. I am very proud of them. We finished well, not just today, but the last half of the season."