{"id":2820,"date":"2026-10-02T23:56:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T23:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/?p=2820"},"modified":"2026-10-13T19:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T19:35:09","slug":"womens-tennis-defeats-geneva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/10\/02\/womens-tennis-defeats-geneva\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s tennis defeats Geneva"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Garrett Gess<\/a> \u00b7 Staff Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Iris Kiehl prepares to swing at a ball. The team improved to 4-0 after securing a win against Geneva. (GCC Athletics)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BEAVER FALLS \u2014 Grove City College women\u2019s tennis record remains perfect after defeating Geneva 6-1 on the road Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With five straight wins to start the season, the Wolverines are having their best start since 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grove City took two of three doubles matches to claim the opening point against Geneva. After the Wolverines lost the first doubles match, sophomore Grace Stitt and freshman Reagan Dougherty cruised to a 6-0 victory, while junior Iris Kiehl and sophomore Blaire Beatty earned a 6-1 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wolverines carried the momentum into singles play, winning five of the six matches to earn a 6-1 final after their opening point. Sophomore Grace Yurko opened Grove City\u2019s singles victories with a 6-4, 6-3 win. Dougherty followed with a 6-2, 6-0 victory. Kiehl continued the Wolverines\u2019 run, winning 6-1, 6-1. Beatty produced the same score. Sophomore Emma Flanigan closed out Grove City\u2019s singles wins by defeating her opponent 6-0, 6-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a really young team with nine out of 14 girls being freshmen or sophomores. The upperclassmen have been great role models and support, and even though there are only a few of them, they have a big impact on leading us underclassmen,\u201d Flanigan said. \u201cThe underclassmen have really made a big impact on the lineup, but beyond just ability, they bring a lot of energy, strong work ethic and competitiveness to the team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although five of the team\u2019s six starters are sophomores or freshmen, they are not without experience. Five starters this year also started for the Wolverines last year, with four starting as freshmen. With much of the roster not even in their last or second-to-last season, the Wolverines might be far from their peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the win over Geneva, Grove City also secured their fourth conference victory of the season. The Wolverines have won all five of their matches this season, including four by 7-0 scores. Grove City opened the season with sweeps over Houghton, Westminster, Washington & Jefferson and Waynesburg. So far so good, Grove City will look to make a run for the PAC title after coming in as the runner-up last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historically, the women\u2019s tennis program has been dominant, winning 25 straight titles from 1987 through 2011 and five since then. This year, the Wolverines are looking to win their first PAC title since 2023. Standing in their way is Allegheny, the defending champion and conference favorite. Grove City will host the Gators next Saturday for a contest, which could preview a playoff matchup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis year, Coach has really emphasized loving each other as teammates and sisters in Christ, as well as loving our opponents well as a goal slash mission for the team,\u201d Flanigan said. \u201cAs far as actual tennis goals go, Coach wants us to be more comfortable and aggressive at the net and to get better at placing the ball in the open court. In my opinion, we\u2019re going to need a lot of hype and energy to win the PACs, which is something the team has been really good at this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdditionally, I think the doubles point will be big, and I think every player will need to be patient, mentally tough and play with freedom. There\u2019s definitely the talent to win PACs on our team if we can all play smart and confidently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With lots of tennis to be played, this year\u2019s Wolverine squad is like the 2023 PAC title team. In that year\u2019s preseason poll, Grove City was not even projected to finish in the top two. Allegheny then outplayed Grove City in their regular-season match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wolverines found resolve, proving the pollsters wrong and winning convincingly in the rematch against Allegheny for the title. While last year\u2019s team came up short by losing in the PAC title match, Grove City looks to flip the script this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Stitt won PAC Player of the Week, and Dougherty was named PAC Newcomer of the Week. The two pair up in doubles matches and continue to succeed. The Wolverines played at Franciscan Monday and will return to Walters-Zbell Tennis Courts to host Penn State Behrend at 12 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Garrett Gess \u00b7 Staff Writer BEAVER FALLS \u2014 Grove City College women\u2019s tennis record remains perfect after defeating Geneva 6-1 on the road Saturday. With five straight wins to start the season, the Wolverines are having their best start since 2018. Grove City took two of three doubles matches to claim the opening point […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[206],"tags":[178,60,240,24,264],"class_list":["post-2820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-varsity","tag-2026-edition","tag-garrett-gess","tag-oct-2","tag-sports","tag-womens-tennis"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/WTEN-CMYK.webp",1920,1080,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/WTEN-CMYK-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/WTEN-CMYK-300x169.webp",300,169,true],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/WTEN-CMYK-768x432.webp",768,432,true],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/WTEN-CMYK-1024x576.webp",1024,576,true],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/WTEN-CMYK-1536x864.webp",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/WTEN-CMYK.webp",1920,1080,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"hannang23","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/hannang23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Garrett Gess \u00b7 Staff Writer BEAVER FALLS \u2014 Grove City College women\u2019s tennis record remains perfect after defeating Geneva 6-1 on the road Saturday. With five straight wins to start the season, the Wolverines are having their best start since 2018. Grove City took two of three doubles matches to claim the opening point…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2820"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3090,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820\/revisions\/3090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}