-- Story provided by Hope College Athletics --
The Hope College women's tennis team fell to North Central College (Illinois), 5-0, in the regional quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Tournament on Thursday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The MIAA Tournament champion Flying Dutch, who entered the match ranked No. 5 in Region VI, finished the season with an overall record of 13-7.
North Central moves on to face regional host No. 13 Carnegie Mellon University in the regional semifinals on Friday, May 5.
North Central, regionally ranked No. 3, opened Hope's 17th National Tournament appearance, and 11th in a row, by sweeping doubles play.
First at No. 2 doubles, Kensington Payne and Anastasia Bozovic defeated Hope's sophomore Miyako Coffey (Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Xavier) and senior Taylor Truman (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville), 8-1.
At No. 1 doubles the pairing of Abigail Penados and Natalie Bassett topped Hope freshman Amanda Lopykinski (Lemont, Illinois / Lemont Township HS) and sophomore Sullivan Moran (Birmingham, Michigan / Wylie E. Groves), 8-3.
North Central's Mikayla Edquiban and Nina Patience defeated Hope's No. 3 doubles team of junior Annika Weeber (Rockford, Michigan / Grand Rapids Christian) and senior Delanie Riebschleger (Rockford, Michigan / Rockford), 8-6.
Hope tallied two singles set wins, with both Weeber and Truman picking those up for Hope at No. 3 and No. 6, respectively, before North Central closed out the match with their final two wins of the match at No. 4 and No. 2 singles.
