PENDLETON, Ind. -- Throughout the 2025 season, the Shawnee State women's tennis program has steadily improved, thanks to a high level of optimism that has been generated within the program itself.
Those efforts are starting to show in the results.
The No. 2 doubles tandem of Brooklyn Foose and Miranda Johnson posted a win a critical doubles match that was the difference-maker while Antonia Ilea and Miranda Johnson each won thrilling, highly-contested matches through pure grit to help Shawnee State claim a 5-2 victory that gave the Shawnee State women's tennis program its first victory of the 2024-25 season Sunday evening at the Community Sports and Wellness Center in Pendleton, Ind.
"This was the first match on both sides that I saw all of the work that we've been putting in over the last six months come to fruition," Shawnee State women's and men's head tennis coach Greg Geremia said. "We're staying focused and not letting the little things get in our heads. Now, it's time to build on it."
Doubles
In doubles action, the No. 2 doubles tandem of Brooklyn Foose and Miranda Johnson were able to team up and claim a big victory -- as the pair defeated Indiana-East's Chantelle Mapondera and Lexi Swauger by a 6-4 margin -- a huge result that was the deciding factor in claiming the doubles point as Shawnee State's No. 3 doubles unit of Makenna Pelphrey and Maggie Mae Clark claimed a victory by forfeit.
The No. 1 doubles unit of Antonia Ilea and McKenzie Harman lost to Indiana-East's Brooke Schafstall and Gracie Helms by a 6-1 margin -- but that didn't affect the doubles point as Shawnee State's two doubles victories to IU-East's one gave the Bears the early match lead.
A full rundown of results are below:
No. 1 doubles -- Brooke Schafstall/Gracie Helms (Indiana-East) def. Antonia Ilea/McKenzie Harman (Shawnee State), 6-1
No. 2 doubles -- Brooklyn Foose/Miranda Johnson (Shawnee State) def. Chantelle Mapondera/Lexi Swauger (Indiana-East), 6-4
No. 3 doubles -- Makenna Pelphrey/Maggie Mae Clark (Shawnee State) won by forfeit
Singles
In singles play, Shawnee State got nothing less than pure heart from Ilea and Johnson -- who were splendid at the No. 1 and No. 4 singles positions.
Ilea, who lost the first set to Schafstall by a 4-6 margin, recovered to obtain two huge 6-4 victories and a point at No. 1 singles.
"Antonia fought so hard," Geremia said. "She got a huge win today at No. 1 singles."
While Mapondera and Helms won at No. 2 and No. 3 singles to tie the match at two pieces apiece, Johnson officially put the match to bed with her thrilling victory at No. 4 singles. The Minford product, who won the first set by a 6-2 margin at the position, fell to Swauger in the second set, 4-6. However, Johnson, through pure willpower, outlasted Swauger in an intense tiebreaker where Johnson claimed a 14-12 third-set win in a match where both players failed to disappoint.
At this point, Shawnee State, who had the point lead by a 3-2 margin, then claimed the remaining contests from Clark and Pelphrey at No. 5 and No. 6 singles via forfeit, helping the Bears claim their thrilling 5-2 win.
A full rundown of results are below:
No. 1 singles -- Antonia Ilea (Shawnee State) def. Brook Schafstall (Indiana-East), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 2 singles -- Chantelle Mapondera (Indiana-East) def. Brooklyn Foose (Shawnee State), 7-5, 6-2
No. 3 singles -- Gracie Helms (Indiana-East) def. McKenzie Harman (Shawnee State), 6-0, 6-0
No. 4 singles -- Miranda Johnson (Shawnee State) def. Lexi Swauger (Indiana-East), 2-6, 6-4, 14-12
No. 5 singles -- Maggie Mae Clark (Shawnee State) won by forfeit
No. 6 singles -- Makenna Pelphrey (Shawnee State) won by forfeit
Additional
Shawnee State (1-5, 1-1 River States Conference) will be back in action Tuesday, March 4 through Friday, March 7 when the Bears compete against Coastal Georgia, Lake Superior State (Mich.), Morningside (Iowa) and Spring Arbor (Mich.) over their Spring Break trip to Hilton Head Island.
For a preview on that trip and recaps of the matches on that trip, visit www.ssubears.com or visit the below social media accounts.
