by Mackenzie McMahon

A match between the top two teams in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, a battle between two currently undefeated squads. Either way you put it, it was bound to be an excellent matchup for the Hope College women's tennis team as they took on Kalamazoo College on Saturday. 

"Watching them realize that they can win the big matches when they really need to, this of course being our biggest one, it was great to go watch them do it and finally get it done," head coach Austin Hunt said of the win for Hope to put them atop the MIAA standings. 

The Flying Dutch topped the Hornets at the VandePoel-Heeringa Courts 6-3, with Hope grabbing two of the three doubles points, and four of the six singles match wins. 

Freshman Sullivan Patel (Birmingham, Michigan / Wylie E. Groves HS) and partner senior Sydney Jackson (Fort Wayne, Indiana / Carroll) topped their No. 1 doubles pairing 8-3, while at No. 3 doubles the partners senior Saydee Johns (Holland, Michigan / Holland) and  junior Taylor Truman (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville) toppled their Kalamazoo opponent 8-3. 

In the singles half of the match, Hope picked up a solid sweep of No. 1 - No. 3 singles wins. Jackson defeated her Hornets opponent with two 6-2 sets, Patel was victorious with 6-1 and 6-1 wins, while sophomore Annika Weeber (Rockford, Michigan / Grand Rapids Christian), pictured right, gave the Flying Dutch points in the No. 3 singles slot with 7-5 and 5-2 wins. 

Freshman Miyako Coffey (Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Xavier) tallied Hope's sixth point, grabbing her singles win with 6-2 and 6-1 sets. Freshman Alexi Lewis (Cedar, Michigan / Saint Francis) forced a third set in the No. 5 singles matchup, but Kalamazoo would earn the win in the third set tiebreaker. 

"The crowd was super cool to see today, they definitely energized it. It was like Miyako said, it was the cherry on top today", said Hunt. 

Hope improves to 6-0 (14-7 overall), while Kalamazoo is now 6-1 (8-10 overall) in conference play. The Flying Dutch play their makeup match with St. Mary's (Ind.) on Tuesday, April 26 at 4:00 p.m. on the road before their final regular season match on Wednesday versus Adrian College.