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Lebanon Valley Keeps C'Wealth Advantage; Steals 5-4 Win
Junior Kristen Chen's match at number six singles could have gone either way Wednesday.
By Jansen Hein, GoMessiah.com reporter The win leaves Lebanon Valley (12-0, 5-0) undefeated in league play, as an Oct. 20 date looms between LVC and Elizabethtown College to determine the regular-season champion. With the loss, Messiah (5-5, 3-2) drops into a tie for third with Alvernia University (11-2, 3-2) — though the Falcons possess the tie-breaker with the Knights thanks to their 5-4 win on Oct. 3. On Wednesday, Messiah continued to struggle in doubles against strong opponents, starting the match off trailing 2-1 following the round of play. The Falcons’ first doubles team of senior Christie McGinley and junior Stacey Clark and second doubles team of senior Annie Gotchel and junior Kristen Chen were bested by their opponents 8-2 and 8-5, respectively. Despite the troubles on the top court, juniors Steph Knepper and Katie Marstaller kept up their third doubles dominance with an 8-3 final score — securing their fourth straight win overall and moving to 7-3 on the season. After finishing the doubles competition down 2-1, the Falcons faced an uphill battle to get back into the match. It was a tough day for the two seniors on the squad, as McGinley and Gotchel were both blanked in their efforts to rebound after their doubles matches. Although each played tough, their opponents proved to be too much for them and handed out 6-0, 6-0 final scores. Marstaller and Knepper again got down to business in singles just as they did in doubles. After winning their doubles match, the pair split up to provide singles wins of their own. The two gave up an impressive total of only four games at the three and five singles flights, respectively. Marstaller blanked LVC’s Tamera Lobb in the first set before surrendering three games in the second set on her way to victory. Knepper was not so generous. Other than a single game in the first set, the Princeton, Mass. native shut down LVC’s Caitlin Bedford and dominated play. Her 6-1, 6-0 result brought Messiah one step closer to tying things up and possibly stealing a win from an unbeaten LVC club. Unfortunately, the victory was not to be. The last two matches came down to the wire and Messiah was only able to come away with one of the two needed to obtain victory. Clark performed her singles role perfectly by persevering through a tough three set match to earn the team their fourth point. After surrendering the first set 3-6 due to nerves, Clark dug in her heels and forced LVC’s Shayna Heintzelman to change her strategy. Due to this alteration, Clark was able to keep her opponent guessing. Her final two sets of 6-2, 6-3 truly showed her mental toughness and a desire to win. In a nail biter, Chen succumbed to defeat at the hands of LVC’s Morgan Brady by only one break each set, dropping a 6-4, 6-4 decision at number six singles. Her match score truly depicted the closeness between the competitors, as the difference was only a matter of a few errors here and there. At the flip of a coin the outcome could have been different. Messiah will look to rebound from this tough loss with two conference away matches to finish out the fall regular season. The Falcons will first travel to Arcadia University Saturday for a 1 p.m. match. The team will then conclude its traditional schedule with a 3:30 p.m. match at Albright College next Wednesday.
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