Lexington, Ky. - The Franklin College women's tennis team kept its hopes of repeating as Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) regular season champions after a 5-4 road triumph at Transylvania University on Sunday. The win improved the Grizzlies to 7-3 on the season and 6-1 in league play.
Franklin will host HCAC leader Hanover College in the regular season finale on Wednesday, October 16 at 5 p.m. at Grizzly Park. The winner of the match will be the No. 1 seed for next week's conference tournament.
The Grizzlies got off to a strong start, winning two of the three doubles matches. The duo of sophomore Chelsea Platt (Shelbyville, Ind./Morristown) and freshman Emily Helvie (Batesville, Ind./Batesville) won at No. 3 doubles 8-2. Sophomore Chelsea Howell (West Harrison, Ind./Franklin County) and freshman Alison Meyer (Batesville, Ind./Batesville) gave the visitors a 2-1 lead with an 8-5 victory at the No. 2 doubles position.
The doubles advantage held up as the two teams split the six singles matches.
Sophomore Emily Roberts (Franklin, Ind./Edinburgh) won by identical 6-1 scores at No. 3 singles. Junior Becky Bonomini (Lawrenceburg, Ind./East Central) earned a 6-2, 6-2 triumph at the No. 6 singles position. Sophomore Melissa Sanders (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North) clinched the match with a hard-fought straight set win at No. 1 singles. Sanders won both sets over Transylvania's Claire Mielcarek by 7-5 scores.
Wednesday's match against Hanover will decide tournament seeding for next weekend's conference championships. A win would tie the Grizzlies for the regular season title and earn the team the No. 1 seed.
