MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - It wasn't easy for the Millersville University women's tennis team on Tuesday afternoon.

Pushed for the first time all season, the Marauders (5-0) responded with a big-time effort to defeat Jefferson (0-1), 5-2. 

It was the first time all season an opponent has taken a set from the women's team, and if it wasn't from the gutsy play in several singles matchups, Jefferson would have come away victors. Four singles matches went to a tiebreaking third set.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
• Kelsey Heckert and Victoria Hanus started the scoring in flight three doubles, taking the set, 6-2. Hannah Bryan and Corrine Grohoski followed suit in their flight two matchup, also winning, 6-2, and clinching the point. 
• Esperanza Contador and Julie Wallace dropped their first set of the season in a long-winded matchup at flight one singles, falling to Chang Wei and Millie Coombes, 4-6. 
• Contador remained unbeaten in flight one singles action. Matched up against fellow junior Marta Yevstakhevych, Contador was pushed to the distance, ultimately winning in three sets, 6-1, 4-6, 11-9. 
• Hannah Bryan was also pushed to three sets for the first time in her Millersville career. The freshman's match came down to the last point in the third set, securing a victory by a score of 6-4, 4-6, 10-8. 
• Heckert (flight five) and Maria Ojeda (flight six) won in straight sets, dropping no more than two games in either set. 
• Wallace (flight two) and Jasmine Morris (flight four) booth suffered setbacks for the first time in singles action this season. Both battled back after losing the first set to win the second, before falling in the third. 
• Neither Wallace nor Morris ultimately factored into the scoring of the match. Millersville had already clinched a victory with a 5-0 advantage before ther matches ended. 

QUOTABLE
"We played really tough today," head coach Matt Helsel said. "Our doubles were very sharp and aggressive. In singles, we were just too stubborn. Jefferson has four really, really good players and [Contador] and [Bryan] did a great job of taking two of them out."

QUOTABLE PART II
"The best part was how we controlled the pace of play," Helsel added. "Having the two courts we lost also be the last two matches on court is testament to our grinding mentality. They could have lost quick and put us in trouble, but they rolled up their sleeves and went to work. That's the kind of effort that great teams produce day in and day out."

NOTES
• The women's program is off to a 5-0 start for the first time this decade and only the second time this century. 
• The last time the women's program started 5-0 was the 2000-01 season. That team finished 29-4 and won the PSAC title. 
• For perspective, four current players on the Millersville roster were not yet born the last time Millersville started 5-0. 
• This was the second consecutive season Millersville has defeated Jefferson. They own an 11-3 all-time record against the Rams. 

UP NEXT
• The Marauders will host the ITA tournament at McComsey Courts on Saturday, Sept. 21. The next time Millersville will play as a team is Oct. 5.