GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Calvin women's tennis team dug down on a warm sunny Saturday afternoon to claim a 7-2 conference victory over Saint Mary's at the Strikwerda Tennis Courts.

The Knights are now 10-5 overall and 3-2 in the MIAA.

Calvin set the tone by winning all three doubles flights to take an early 3-0 lead. Juniors Ellie Benzel (San Dimas, Ca./San Dimas HS) and Claire Spoelhof (Holland/Holland Christian HS) picked up an 8-4 win at No. 1 doubles while sophomores Lark Foote (Okemos/Home School) and Liz Turner (Audobon, Pa./Delaware County Christian HS) picked up an 8-5 win at No. 3 doubles.

The Knights then received a huge momentum boost at No. 2 doubles as the tandem of sophomores Jessica Bouma (Kalamazoo/Kalamazoo Christian HS) and Micaela Seazzu (Albuquerque, NM/Sandia HS) pulled out a 9-8 win including a 7-3 triumph in the tiebreaker.

"This was a big match for us," said Calvin women's tennis coach Kevin Van Haitsma. "Our big focus was to find a way to get two out of the three doubles matches. We had not won two doubles matches against Saint Mary's in several years so to win all three today was huge."

In singles action, Benzel cruised to a 6-4, 6-0 win over Andrea Fetters at No. 1 singles to provide the clinching fifth point for the Knights after Seazzu had won 6-0, 6-1 over Margaret Faller at No. 4 singles. Sophomore Kari Kroeze (Holland/Holland Christian HS) was a 6-4, 6-4 winner at No. 6 singles while Bouma pulled out a 4-6, 6-0, 10-2 win at No. 3 singles.

"Saint Mary's came out strong in singles but we responded by pulling out some tough singles victories," said Van Haitsma. "This was a really solid win for our team."

Calvin will travel to Spring Arbor University next Wednesday for a non-conference match slated to start at 4 p.m.