The Chicago women's tennis team dropped to 6-7 on the season after a busy weekend at home and on the road against three different opponents.
Chicago lost to St. Mary's (Indiana) 2-7 on Saturday in their first home meet of 2004. They came back to make a solid effort on Sunday against 27th-ranked Carthage College but ended up losing 3-6. The Maroons followed up those two losses by beating Lake Forest College in all their matches, winning 9-0.
The win against Lake Forest was proof that the women's team has improved considerably since last year's loss at the hands of the Foresters.
"The coaching has been awesome, and we're a closer, more relaxed team," second-year Katie Dulmage said.
Dulmage went 2-0 in singles play over the weekend, including a hard-fought first set against Carthage's sixth-singles player. Dulmage ended up taking the set 7-6. She cruised on the way to winning the second set 6-2, but the match was not won without significant effort and solid mental play.
"I was down 4-5 [in the first set], but when I got her to 6-6, she was [angry]," Dulmage said."When I got to the tie-break, I knew it was over for her mentally. She started making excuses."
Dulmage and second-year partner Christine Kim won two and lost one in doubles play. The first-doubles team of Annie Miller and Ade Omodele-Lucien also picked up two wins and a loss.
Miller posted a come-from-behind win in second-singles action against Carthage's Sarah Cahoon 2-6, 6-1, 6-0. The weekend brought her record to 7-4, a team best.
Kim had the only singles win against St. Mary's in an exciting match 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (3), and split on Sunday, defeating Lake Forest's fourth-position singles players and losing against Carthage. Kim is now 6-4 on the season.
The women's team will travel to Wheaton College on Wednesday. They will return home to start the weekend versus Aquinas College on Friday, April 9 at 3:30 p.m.
