Franklin, Ind. - The Franklin College women's tennis team lost a 5-4 home match to Hanover College in the regular-season finale on Wednesday at Grizzly Park. The Grizzlies will be the No. 3 seed for this weekend's Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) tournament.

Franklin (7-4, 6-2 HCAC) got off to fast start, winning two of the three doubles matches. The duo of sophomore Melissa Sanders (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North) and junior Bethany Harris (Avon, Ind./Avon) gave the hosts the doubles advantage by winning 7-3 in a tiebreaker at No. 1 doubles.

Freshman Chelsea Helvie (Batesville, Ind./Batesville) and sophomore Chelsea Platt (Shelbyville, Ind./Morristown) recorded an 8-6 victory at No. 3 doubles.

In singles, Sanders won a hard-fought three-set match at No. 1 singles, winning the deciding third set by a 6-3 score. Sophomore Chelsea Howell (West Harrison, Ind./Franklin County) won 6-4, 6-0 at the No. 4 singles position.

Franklin will begin the conference tournament against No. 6 seed Manchester University on Saturday, October 19 at 9 a.m. from the West Indy Tennis Complex. The winner of the match will play at 2 p.m. against No. 2 seed Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.