An early deficit did not faze the No. 1 doubles team for the Hope College women's tennis team. 

Junior Carli Capestany of Hudsonville (Hudsonville HS) and freshman Nancy Benda of Birmingham (Seaholm HS) charged back for an 8-6 win over Albion College's Irene Chen and Katie Blumberg on Thursday at DeWitt Tennis Center.

Capestany and Benda helped the Flying Dutch take two of the three doubles matches in the MIAA Tournament semifinal and start their way to a 5-1 win.

Hope (15-5 overall) earned a rematch at Kalamazoo College at noon on Friday in the title match. The winner receives the league's berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

"Albion was playing well. They just weathered the storm," Hope coach Adam Ford said of Benda and Capestany. "Down 5-2, they still think they have a chance. They believe in themselves. They realized they just needed to put more balls in play and just fight.

"They've fought like that all year. Our team has a lot of heart and a lot of fight. You've got to knock us out."

The Flying Dutch, ranked 10th in the region, also picked up a point at No. 3 doubles. Senior Mallory Smith of Grand Haven (Grand Haven HS) and sophomore Marie Holaway of Holland (West Ottawa HS) defeated Albion's Lauren Rasmussen and Christina Khim 8-1.

Hope claimed the three singles points it needed to end the match in the fourth, fifth and sixth flights.

Freshman Paige Courts of Caledonia (South Christian HS) beat Albion's Heather Vogt 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4 singles.

Smith topped Rasmussen 6-2, 6-0 at No. 5 singles.

Sophomore Anna Garcia of Battle Creek (Lakeview HS) downed Khim 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6 singles.

Hope gets a rematch with MIAA regular-season champion Kalamazoo, a 5-4 winner over the Flying Dutch on Tuesday, April 1.

Kalamazoo, ranked ninth in the region, served up a 5-1 win against Saint Mary's College in Thursday's other semifinal.

"We definitely were left with a bad taste in our mouths. We were up 4-2 then lost," Ford said. "We had our chances. We didn't take them.

"We've been working toward this rematch. This is something we wanted."