Terre Haute, Ind. – The Transylvania women's tennis team completed its undefeated run through the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season on Saturday afternoon with a definitive 9-0 win over the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Fightin' Engineers at the Joy Hulbert Tennis Center.
Transylvania completed its second consecutive 5-0 run through HCAC play to head into next week's HCAC Championships with a full head of steam; having defeated Hanover on Wednesday to clinch the conference outright regular-season crown along with the tournament's No. 1 seed, the Pioneers added the icing on Saturday with a perfect regular-season HCAC record.
Rose-Hulman dropped to 2-3 in conference play with Saturday's result.
Entering the day with perfection in its crosshairs, Transylvania honed in on an unblemished first-place finish with a near-perfect showing in doubles. Porsche Robinson and Jessica Burton delivered an 8-0 win in No. 1 doubles while Grace Gardner and Katherine Taylor barely blinked with an 8-1 victory at No. 2 doubles. Christina Duvall and Sheila Cetina boosted the Pioneers to a 3-0 match lead with an 8-1 display in No. 3 doubles.
Singles play mirrored the dominance of doubles as Robinson won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 singles while Cetina put on a ferocious display with a 6-0, 6-0 win in No. 2 singles. Gardner replicated Cetina's perfect score at No. 4 doubles while Burton emerged victorious at No. 3 singles, 6-0, 6-1. Taylor powered her way to a 6-0, 6-2 win in No. 5 singles while Duvall also cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 triumph at No. 6 singles.
The Pioneers earned a first-round bye with the No. 1 seed as they look ahead to the HCAC Tournament, held at their home venue of Top Seed Tennis Club in Nicholasville, Kentucky.
Transylvania women's tennis head coach Bill Carey reflected on the latest milestone for the Pioneers ahead of next week's conference championships, which will determine the conference's automatic bid into the 2022 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championships.
"This team is so strong and deep and so much fun to coach. I am really happy for them to go undefeated through the conference regular season. They are capable of accomplishing a lot and I think they are really beginning to embrace that challenge."
Transylvania's next challenge begins Saturday, October 16 at 11:00 a.m. in the HCAC Tournament Semifinals. Transylvania will play the winner of No. 5 seed Franklin and No. 4 seed Rose-Hulman, who will square off on Wednesday, October 13 in the HCAC Tournament Quarterfinals.
For more on Transylvania women's tennis, follow @TransyWTennis on Twitter
