The Saint Mary’s tennis team celebrated a successful season, going 16-5 overall and 6-2 in conference, placing them third in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA). In addition to this, the team took 10 wins in a row before falling to Hope in their second-to-last regular season match.
The road to success required the team to work together, especially given how young the group was.
“I think it’s definitely a learning process throughout the season,” head coach Dale Campbell said. “The first-year athletes are learning the opponents and learning the competition and learning how to balance academics and athletics.”
The athletes also had to be able to understand and connect with each other on the courts, especially in doubles play.
“It definitely depends on the tools that they have, their overall level, but also how they complement each other from one shot to another,” Campbell said in regard to how the coaching staff decided the pairings. “We have a really strong No. 1 team with our junior and senior that are very experienced and then we happen to have a team that is a fairly strong serving team and a good volleying team which helps the set and spike nature of tennis.”
An exciting moment arrived for the Belles when the team became nationally ranked during their regular season. This was new for the Belles and certainly a major achievement for the young team.
“We have four teams in our conference ranked in the top 60 in the country,” Campbell said. “I found that we were 52 in the ITA, or Intercollegiate Tennis Association, rankings, and yeah, it’s exciting because I don’t think we’ve been recognized, that I know of, in the 18 years as a team.”
This year, the Belles also had a standout performer in sole senior Alayna Campbell. Campbell finished her collegiate career with 215 wins on the court, 55 of them in conference play.
“She’s definitely a leader, mostly by example,” Campbell said. “Again, strong in the classroom, strong on the court. She knows all of the drills and all of the plays and all of the things that I am looking for.”
The Belles went on to compete in the MIAA Tournament, winning 4-0 in the quarterfinals against Trine. Their season came to an end, however, when they fell 4-2 in the semifinals against Kalamazoo.
