Published: April 30, 2008 05:26 pm            

Lady Eagles think pink, beat Brownsburg 5-0

The No. 9 Zionsville girls tennis team hosted its annual “Power of Pink” fundraiser for breast cancer research during the Thursday, April 24, Hoosier Crossroads Conference match against Brownsburg.

While there were festivities outside the courts, the Lady Eagles were all business on the courts. They beat the Lady Bulldogs 5-0, pushing their conference record to 7-0 and their overall record to 8-1.

The win sets up an April 29 match against No. 18 Hamilton Southeastern for the best record in the HCC.

In Thursday’s No. 1 singles match, Zionsville senior Danielle Hansen defeated Brownsburg’s Heather Hayward 6-1, 6-0.

“At first it’s hard to start out solid, but I got all the butterflies worked out. I got into my strokes, and it was a lot easier to focus after that,” Danielle Hansen said.

In No. 2 singles action, Zionsville senior Margo Harrington took down Erin Mehringer 6-0, 6-1. Zionsville’s junior No. 3 singles player Lauren Formulak defeated Erika Hess 6-0, 6-1.

The Zionsville No. 1 doubles team has been mixed around throughout the season, and junior Eileen Dinnin and freshman Lindsey Hansen struggled early, down 2-5 in the first set against Jamie Percival and Sarah Zabel. However, they rallied back to claim the set 7-5. Dinnin and Hansen kept the momentum going, taking the second set 6-3 for the win.

“I like that resilience,” Slama said of her No. 1 doubles team.

The No. 2 doubles team of senior Katie Thompson and sophomore Claire Mattison had little trouble with their opponents, beating Brownsburg’s Hannah Kennings and Kate Susemichel 6-0, 6-1.

The day was about breast cancer awareness, as the Lady Eagles wore pink warm-up shirts, and were joined by many fans also wearning pink to show support for the fight against cancer. The tennis program sold pink cupcakes and pink lemonade, and partnered with the Vera Bradley Foundation for breast cancer research conducted at the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis.

“We’re getting the message across that we’re dedicating the season to breast cancer research, and this was the match that we did it,” Slama said.

The team was joined by the Zionsville Middle School and Zionsville West Middle School tennis players for Thursday’s promotions, and Danielle Hansen thought it strengthened the program.

“It’s fun to join into something like this together,” she said. “It does unify us to see the middle school girls come over and prepare us for the next generation.”

        

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