| Goshen, IN – Oh, what a difference a few days make.
True, Goshen (2-5, 0-5) failed to pick up its first Mid-Central Conference win of the season Saturday against Marian College (a 6-3 Knights’ win) and true, senior Diana Diaz received some disheartening news from medical personnel just four days earlier, but all was not lost.
Desite a bone chip in her left wrist and surgery on the horizon, Diaz made a triumphant return to the Goshen lineup Saturday, cruising to a 6-3, 6-0 win at number one singles and teaming with classmate Laurelyn Foderaro for an incredible, come-from-behind 8-6 win at number one doubles.
That overshadowed — perhaps — the Leafs’ team loss on the day, as Goshen head coach Sarah Yoder knows Diaz’s value to the team for the remainder of the season.
“Basically, Diana will need another surgery on her left wrist,” Yoder said. “She has a floating piece of bone in there that makes it extremely painful to exert any type of force using the wrist. However, she has decided to keep playing.”
Diaz, who missed Wednesday’s match at Defiance College (click here for article) due to an appointment with a wrist specialist, had surgery over the summer on the wrist. However, procedures only corrected part of the problem, and it is now apparent that additional surgery will be required.
That didn’t stop Diaz from making a memorable return to the court Saturday, leading her team to its three points in combination with Foderaro. Foderaro won at number two singles by a 6-3, 6-0 score over Marian’s Dana Reynolds.
“Diana and Laurelyn had an outstanding match today,” Yoder said. “My seniors really stepped their games up and came up with three great wins for us. They started the day with a breathtaking win at number one doubles, fighting back from a 1-6 deficit to win seven games in a row. They completely cleaned up their game, quit giving their opponents easy points and took over the net. Both carried this momentum into their singles matches and dominated from the beginning. Diana and Laurelyn played some of their best tennis of the season today.”
Unfortunately for Yoder, that was where the great tennis stopped, as Goshen failed to grasp another point at any of the remaining six positions. Marian took straight sets in the remainder of singles play save for freshman Alyssa Dewing’s 3-6, 7-6, 6-0 loss at number five.
Meanwhile, the Knights blanked Goshen’s number three doubles team of senior Janie Beck and junior Amanda Weybright while taking an 8-2 decision over Dewing and freshman Rachel Lanctot at the number two doubles flight.
The loss kept Goshen winless in conference play on the season.
Yoder’s team will have another shot at cracking into the win column on Tuesday, when the team will travel to the University of St. Francis for a 2:30 p.m. match. Goshen has not lost to the Cougars in this decade.
Singles:
#1 Diana Diaz (G) def. Loriann Laugle (M): 6-3, 6-0
#2 Laurelyn Foderaro (G) def. Dana Reynolds (M): 6-0, 6-2
#3 Hannah Swim (M) def. Rachel Lanctot (G): 7-5, 6-0
#4 Loye Kegley (M) def. Hannah Groff (G): 6-0, 6-1
#5 Katrina Kroics (M) def. Alyssa Dewing (G): 3-6, 7-6, 6-0
#6 Michelle Sizemore (M) def. Janie Beck (G): 6-1, 6-1
Doubles:
#1 Diaz/Foderaro (G) Laugle/Sizemore (M): 8-6
#2 Kegley/Roxy Rose (M) def. Lanctot/Dewing: 8-2
#3 Kroics/Swim (M) def. Beck and Amanda Weybright (G): 8-0
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Senior Diana Diaz