| Fort Wayne, IN — Following this weekend’s Mid-Central Conference Tournament at Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran High School, it was unclear what was the bigger picture for the Goshen College women’s tennis team:
Taking pride in seniors Diana Diaz and Laurelyn Foderaro’s play, or fretting over the daunting task of replacing the tandem next year.
Perhaps a bit of both was on the mind of Goshen head coach Sarah Yoder, as the third-year leader witnessed her team capture a seventh-place finish at the three-day MCC event, moving up one notch from the team’s eighth-place, regular-season result.
The bitter side of the bittersweet weekend came from Diaz and Foderaro capturing all four of Goshen’s points in the tournament, as the remainder of the Leafs’ lineup was swept in opening-round competition, thus exiting the tournament.
“We will greatly miss all three of our seniors in Diana, Laurelyn and Janie (Beck),” Yoder said following the weekend. “We will definitely have large holes to fill in our lineup. Already our younger players are talking about ways to work on our game in the off-season and I think they see how we will need everyone to step up next year and take on larger roles on the team.”
The shoes are large to fill — Diaz and Foderaro each earned All-MCC honors for the second time in their respective careers — while it was Foderaro who made up for lost time during the weekend. After failing to advance past the first round in both singles and doubles play last season (click here for related article), Foderaro made it to the championship round in both number two singles and number one doubles this year, narrowly falling in both flights.
“Laurelyn really had a great weekend of tennis,” Yoder said. “The schedule didn’t always work out in her favor, but she gave it everything she had and fought until the very end.”
Foderaro paired with Diaz to earn the league’s number four seed at number one doubles, and quickly opened the tournament with a 9-7 win over Spring Arbor University’s unseeded tandem. The pair then went on to knock off top seeded Kristin Goeke and Kati Marsh from Taylor University in an 8-6 decision before falling to Huntington University — seeded second — in the championship by a narrow, 9-8 (8-6) decision.
“Diana and Laurelyn had a great tournament this weekend at doubles,” Yoder said. “They held off a determined duo from Spring Arbor on the first day by taking a hard fought 9-7 win. After dropping the first two games of the pro-set, they fought back and tied the score at 2-2. From there on they stayed on serve (2-3, 3-4, 4-5, 5-6) until they broke and found themselves up 7-6 with a chance the serve for the match. After a long game with several deuces we dumped an overhead in the net and again were tied 7-7. At this point Diana and Laurelyn completely refocused. They cut down on unforced errors and easily won the next two games to secure the set. At 7-7 I could see in their body language that they were not going to lose that match. They stepped up as seniors and closed the close match out with clean, precise tennis.
“We returned the second day and were able to see one of the most exciting matches of the season as Diana and Laurelyn had a third chance to see Kristin Goeke and Katie Marsh from Taylor,” Yoder continued. “This team had beaten them at our opening doubles invitational (click here for artcle) and also during our regular-season match (click here for article). After losing two close matches Diana and Laurelyn were determined to change the outcome during tournament. They started the match out strong by winning the first two games, but Taylor quickly responded by taking the next two. The match stayed on serve until they broke serve and found themselves up 7-5 and one game away from the match. Diana and Laurelyn went up 40-15, but could not close out the game. Taylor fought for four match points to take the game. They changed sides still up 7-6 with this time Laurelyn serving. This game Taylor jumped to a quick lead and we were down 15-40. This game would be our chance to fight off game points, bring the score back to deuce and close out the game and the match. This was a hug win for our number one doubles team and very high quality tennis from the beginning. Both teams served well, returned well and looked for opportunities to come to the net and put volleys away. Most games were close and forced to go to deuce more than once. This was a match in which Diana and Laurelyn won the important points and played well from start to finish. This win earned them a championship match appearance on Saturday.”
Yoder would call Saturday’s championship match “some of the best tennis of the tournament,” as Diaz and Foderaro took Huntington’s Stephanie Strong and Raelyn Althoff to the absolute brink before falling.
“We were treated to another phenomenal match at number one doubles Saturday morning,” Yoder said. “Whereas Friday’s match had been a battle of volleys and net play, Saturday’s match was a battle of the ground strokes. Diana and Laurelyn faced two strong opponents from Huntington with powerful, penetrating ground strokes. They were not able to come into the net as much and were forced to duke out points from the baseline. This match was close at the beginning, with everyone holding serve. Huntington made a small run in the middle of the match and was up 6-4, before we stormed back winning three games in a row with a chance to close out the match. Huntington buckled down and fought back tying the score 7-7. Again we held serve and went up 8-7, but could not break serve to win the match. Huntington forced a tiebreaker at 8-8. Points went back and forth with Huntington finally pulling ahead and winning 8-6.
The outcome of this match hinged on a couple of points and on a different day could have gone our way. Diana and Laurelyn played their hearts out and gave fans some of the best tennis of the tournament.”
Foderaro was able to cash in on a pair of singles wins between those doubles matches, as the top seed at number two singles defeated Bethel College’s Missy Vermillion by a 6-1, 6-0 score on Thursday and knocked off Spring Arbor University’s Rachael Kafader — the flight’s four seed — by a 6-0, 6-0 count on Friday.
Looking to win her first MCC title — and the team’s second individual crown in as many years — Foderaro came up just short against Taylor’s Kristine Bolinger, dropping a 6-3, 6-3 decision moments after Diaz and Foderaro’s loss in the number one doubles’ championship.
“Laurelyn was forced to refocus quickly after the devastating loss at one doubles to face an unseeded player who beat her earlier in the season and also beat two seeded opponents to reach the finals,” Yoder said. “The final score of this match did not accurately show the closeness of the match from start to finish. Almost every game went to deuce and Laurelyn struggled to put together two points in a row to close out games. Her opponent chased down balls that would have been winners against most other opponents and used a wonderful combination of top spin and slice ground strokes. Her strategy made it difficult for Laurelyn to get into a rhythm on her ground strokes and Bolinger’s quickness put tons of pressure on Laurelyn to hit big shots.”
Goshen’s best chances of earning additional points for the tournament came in number three and number six singles, as freshman Rachel Lanctot dropped a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 decision to Spring Arbor’s Elissa Mercer in the former while Beck fell by a 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 score to Marian College’s Michelle Sizemore in the latter.
“Rachel and Janie both had great runs at their singles matches, taking sets from opponents they lost to in straight sets during season,” Yoder said.
Indiana Wesleyan won the team event, finishing with 19 total points. Goshe was able to pass Spring Arbor University (two points) after having lost to the Cougars during regular-season play (click here for article). Grace College finished in ninth place, garnering no points.
“After having a disappointing tournament run a year ago and losing both her matches on the first day, Laurelyn was determined to advance to the second round of play at both positions this year,” Yoder said. “Her focus was evident from the beginning of the weekend. I am sad to see our senior leaders go, but excited to continue working with such a hard-working, driven group of players who will be retuning. As a coach I couldn’t have asked for a harder working group.”
Check back to this website for the latest news during the off-season. To contact Sarah Yoder, call her at (574) 535-7743 or click here to send her an email.
Final Results:
Indiana Wesleyan University — 19 points
Bethel College — 10 points
Marian College — 8 points
Taylor University — 7 points
Huntington University — 7 points
Grace College — 6 points
Goshen College — 4 points
Spring Arbor University — 2 points
University of St. Francis — 0 points
Singles:
#1. Jessica Stolle (Grace, #1 seed) def. Diana Diaz (Goshen): 6-4, 6-2
#2. Laurelyn Foderaro (Goshen, #1 seed) def. Missy Vermillion (Bethel): 6-1, 6-0
def. Rachael Kafader (SA, #4 seed): 6-0, 6-0
lost to Kristine Bolinger (TU, unseeded): 6-3, 6-3 (Championship Rd)
#3. Elissa Mercer (SA, #3 seed) def. Rachel Lanctot (GO): 6-3, 3-6, 6-0
#4. Sherra Milender (BC, #2 seed) def. Hannah Groff (GO): 6-0, 6-2
#5. Goshen was #9 seed and did not play in the tournament
#6. Michele Sizemore (MC, #1 seed) def. Janie Beck (GO): 3-6, 6-0,6-2
Doubles:
#1. Diaz/Foderaro (Goshen, #4 seed) def. Smith/Kafader (SA): 9-7
def. Goeke/Marsh (TU, #1 seed): 8-6
lost to Strong/Altohh (HU, #2 seed): 9-8 (8-6) (Championship Rd.)
#2. Kegley/Rose (MC, #2 seed) def. Lanctot/Weybright (GO): 8-3
#3. Walus/Milender (BC, #4 seed) def. Beck/Dewing (GO): 8-5
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Seniors Diana Diaz and Laurelyn Foderaro