North Central (IL) 5, Franciscan 0

    The Barons come into round 1 of NCAA championships play having not played since March 25th against Wittenberg University. The challenge for the day was going to be to get back into tournament form from practices and be at the top of your game. Once some early game jitters wore off and the players settled in, the Barons looked impressive. The fans sitting on the hillside overlooking the courts witnessed elite level tennis play, high energy, and intensity mostly coming from the Barons.

Doubles
    Franciscan lost doubles play 0-3. The first match to finish was the #2's of Zoey Stapleton and Haley Davinsizer. Stapleton was in her last match as a Baron today and you could see it in her play. From my experience watching the women this last year, Stapleton's game is a very technical and controlled game. She always looks composed and in control during her match play. Today she rose to the occasion and the level of competition. Often throughout the match Stapleton would chase a lob shot down attempting point saving shots or charging the net to try and win one for the Barons. Early in the match, North Central went for a drop shot, but the ball bounced high. Stapleton was in perfect position to rifle the ball back and bring her team up 30-0 with hopes of tying the set up 1-1. Later in that game, Stapleton charged the net and went for a drop shot. She had perfect spin and position on the ball, and the North Central duo was not ready for that shot. The ball hit the top of the net and took an unfortunate roll back onto Franciscan's side. Haley Davinsizer showed her prowess later in the doubles match. With North Central on match point, Davinsizer chased a long lob shot far passed the back line and returned a heater down the right line to win the point and keep the Barons alive. Plays like these kept the Barons in every point, but ultimately lost the doubles match 8-0.
    Caroline Picard and Laina Anderson were slotted as the #3 pairing. Laina Anderson was serving the ball exceptionally well the entire match. Each time she had the serve the #3's threatened to win the point. Caroline Picard was one of two players today who brought the energy. She was not going down today without a fight. With her doubles team down 7-0 she fought for every shot to keep them alive. In the final point there 7 serves at deuce, and Picard played a major part in every play the duo needed to stay alive and force another deuce. Finally with the advantage Franciscan, Anderson returned a North Central serve that the Cardinals could not handle and hit the ball far wide. This put the ladies on the board 7-1. North Central won the next point and finished the match 8-1.
    Olivia Colby led off the #1's match with a double fault. She shook the big game jitters off and fired back with back-to-back aces. The exciting pair of Maria Herrera and Olivia Colby continued to have struggles in the first game with uncharacteristic errors that ultimately put North Central on the board first. The first game woes didn't phase the pair and Herrera continued to play aggressive in game 2. Playing the front line she made an unexpected high reaching hit to return a volley to the back corner and out of North Central reach. The kills the pair were going for were either short or wide early in the match. To their credit they continued to stay aggressive and kept North Central on their back foot playing conservative. The Barons were down 0-2, but once they settled in the points racked up quickly. Down 2-1, Colby had a great serve that Herrera slammed the lofted return. Up 40-15, North Central made a late out call on Colby's first serve. Unexpectedly, Colby did not back off on her second serve and aced them to win the point and tying the match at 2-2. The #1's went up 5-3 after starting 0-2. This lit a fire in the pair. At this point they were a pair with synchronized aggression charging the net in unison as if choreographed. The Barons took a 5-3 lead and forced North Central to change their plan of attack. Trying to take a 6-4 lead an put some distance on their opponents, Colby tried to cap off a long rally with an unreturnable slam on the right side. She made contact with the ball at the top of her racket causing her shot to go short and into the net. This gave North Central the point and tied the game at 5-5. Franciscan had the advantage on the next point and Colby had a stroke of luck. She took a shot to her forearm which bounced off onto the North Central side of play and scored the Barons the point and gave them the lead 6-5. North Central won the next point to tie it 6-6. The next match point was the best game of tennis played all year. Each team was taking aggressive kill shots and the other side kept finding ways to return them. Every point won that game, from either side, was decided on missed shots going for the kill. That game went to 6 deuce serves, but eventually went to North Central to go up 7-6. The Cardinals pair picked up the next point and won the set 8-6.  Singles
    Due to tournament scoring rules not every singles match finished. #1 Maria Herrera was taking command in her second set 2-1 after losing the first set. When her shots were on target, Herrera almost always won the point. Zoey Stapleton was the #3 hitter and was the first singles player to win a set on the day. Caroline Picard lost her first set, but was coming back in the second. When the match was called she was tied at 3-3 in the second set. Picard had one of the more impressive shots of the day. She had to cover the entire width of the court to reach for the ball that was centimeters from a double bounce. She managed to just get her racket on it and placed the ball deep in the opposite corner and won the point. Laina Anderson looked on pace to win her singles match. Anderson lost her first set 4-6, but was tied in the second set 1-1 and playing well. She had a very exciting point where both her and her opponent were charging the net simultaneously and quickly returning shots. After 4 quick back-and-forths, Anderson fired a return just outside the reach of her opponent and scored the point. These four Barons did not get to finish their singles matches, but were playing very well when the match was called.
    #2 Olivia Colby and #5 Haley Davinsizer were each able to finish their singles matches. Colby had to adjust to herself and change her style of play. Her drop shots kept coming short and her heaters from the back line were sailing high. She had a lot of success when she switched to a conservative approach, but had unfortunate misfires when coming back to her bread and butter aggressive plays. #5 Haley Davinsizer was up against a power hitter. Davinsizer's ball placement and control looked as good as it has all season. On many points she forced her opponent to cover the entire back line and chase her shots. The Cardinal #5 hitter just kept finding ways to return the ball. After Colby and Davinsizer lost their singles matches, the North Central Cardinal's scored their 5th team point and the match was called. 

Next Up
The Barons will resume play this fall and look to defend their Conference Champion title. Graduating Senior Zoey Stapleton will be sorely missed. She has helped lead this team and grow the amazing culture this program has. Her departure is a sad day for Franciscan Women's Tennis, but a bright one for her as we wish her the best in all her future endeavors.

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