NORWICH – The Lady Purple Tornado played in three straight matches last week, winning Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to claim three back-to-back-back victories. 

After defeating Windsor 7-0 Tuesday afternoon, Norwich pulled though another tight match against non-divisional opponent Owego Wednesday.

The match was tied at 3-3 with Norwich’s first doubles team of Riley Marsh and Natalie Benenati playing for the final point against Owego’s Annamae Joyce and Rachel Raftis. Playing to a solid first set win of 6-1, Norwich led 1-0 in the match. 

Owego’s duo fought back to lead in the second set of 5-2. Marsh and Benenati battled back to tie the set at 5-5 but Joyce and Raftis closed out the set two games later, winning 7-5. 

In the third and final set, the Tornado partners used the energy from their second set loss to once again dominate the set, handing Owego a 6-2 set loss and picking up the fourth point to give Norwich the overall win of 4-3. 

“Riley [Marsh] and Natalie [Benenati] played well when the conditions were tight,” said head coach John Stewart. “It was really great moment for them.”

Also taking a victory in the match against Owego were Lucie Martin – No. 1 singles for Norwich in the match, Katie Gawronski at No. 2 singles, second doubles Hailey Colabelli and Hannah Baker and third doubles Logan Fredenburg and Erica Gage.

Martin moved to first singles against Owego to get a look at what the competition will look like if Stewart decides to play her at No. 1 singles during sectional play. She won in straight sets while Gawronski took down her opponent the same way.

Fredenburg and Gage won their match with set scores of 6-4 and 6-3 to tie the match at 3-3. Colabelli and Baker nearly blanked their opponents, winning 6-1 in both sets.

On day later, Norwich took down the Sabers of Susquehanna Valley 6-1 to cap off a perfect week for the Purple Tornado.