RIPON, Wis. – The 2011 Midwest Conference Women’s Tennis Championships kicks off Friday, October 14 at the Boylan Tennis Center and Forest City Tennis Club, both in Rockford, Ill., for the team championship before switching to the Nielsen Tennis Center in Madison, Wis. on Saturday and Sunday for the singles and doubles competition. 

On Friday the team championship returns the same four teams from last season as MWC South Division winner Grinnell (11-0, 3-0) takes on MWC North Division runner-up Lawrence (10-2, 3-1) while North Division winner St. Norbert (11-3, 4-0) will battle South Division runner-up Lake Forest (5-9, 2-1). The semifinal matches will take place at 8:30 a.m. with the winners meeting at 1:30 p.m. for a chance to earn the MWC automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament. Earlier this season the Green Knights defeated Lake Forest by a score of 8-1 while this will be the first meeting of the season for Grinnell and Lawrence.

On Saturday all nine participating teams will meet in Madison for the MWC Women’s Tennis Doubles Championships and then conclude the championship weekend on Sunday with singles play.

Beloit enters the 2011 championships with the second most individual champions of any school with 44 (30 singles, 14 doubles) after missing the team championship for the second consecutive year. The Bucs have a strong back end of the roster with Taylor Jones working an 8-2 record in the No. 4 flight and Emma Beck picking up eight victories in the No. 5 flight. Both Jones and Beck lead the team with 10 overall victories while Ashely Miglin has a 7-2 mark in the No. 6 flight and will aim for her first championship after finishing runner-up last season. The Bucs also has a very strong group of double teams where the duo of Alex Hinck and Maria Mears is a perfect 10-0 in the No. 2 flight while Beck and Miglin are a near perfect 10-1 in the No. 3 flight.

Carroll enters the championships looking for its first individual champion since 1999 and first doubles champion in school history. Abigail Pellett enters with second best mark in the conference out of the No. 1 singles flight with an 8-3 mark while Erin Bowman has a combined 9-1 mark between the No. 4 and No. 5 flight. The Pioneers also return a pair of 2010 runner-ups in Alyssa Larson (No. 2 flight) and Kara Paroubek (No. 5 flight) to round out a talented lineup. Larson finished the regular season with an 8-3 mark in the No. 2 flight while Paroubek split time between the No. 4 flight (2-1) and No. 5 flight (3-4). Larson teams with Kate Rasmussen in the No. 1 doubles flight for a 5-3 record while Bowman and Paroubek notched a 5-3 record in the No. 2 doubles flight this season.

Grinnell got back on the winning track last season claiming its sixth MWC Team Championship in the last seven years and finished the 2011 regular season with a perfect 11-0 record. The Pioneers captured five singles championships and two doubles championships in 2010 to raise its total number of individual champions to 35 and look at add to that total. Constanza Alcorn (No. 2 flight), Clothilde Thirouin (No. 3 flight) and Hanna Feldman (No. 5 flight) all return to defend titles this season for the Black and Red. Alarcon holds the top record in the No. 2 flight of players with at least five decisions with a 5-1 mark while Hanna Feldman is 9-1 on the season and a perfect 8-0 in dual matches in the No. 4 and No. 5 flights. Sadhana Athreya and Laura Krull posted a team-best 10-3 mark out of the No. 1 doubles flight with the team of Alarcon and Thirouin holding a 6-2 overall record including going 4-0 in No. 2 flight dual matches.

Knox picked up a seventh place finish at the 2010 championships and aims to move up in the standings in 2011. Charlotte Garvin will challenge for an individual championship in the No. 3 singles flight with a 7-2 overall mark in the regular season and a 7-1 record in the No. 3 flight. Megan Funk will play out of the No. 1 flight where she recorded two wins during the season and Jordan Kuban also picked up a pair of wins in the No. 2 flight. Funk and Garvin team up in the No. 1 doubles flight where they have a 3-4 record while Kuban and Katie Beadling pick up the only other doubles win for the Prairie Fire in the No. 2 flight.

Lake Forest, last year’s runner-up to Grinnell, enters the team championship on Friday looking for its third MWC Championship and the first since the 2003 season. Aimee Fadden returns after finishing runner-up in the No. 3 singles flight last season and will now play out of the No. 1 flight, where she owns a 4-9 record. Nonie Carson has a 4-3 record out of the No. 3 flight while Gracie Mullins is 5-7 between the No. 2 and 3 flights. Carson and Fadden have a 4-4 mark in the No. 1 doubles flight while Lucy Cooper and Nikki Yeomans are 3-1 out of the No. 2 flight this season.

The Vikings enter the 2011 championship looking to improve on its 23 singles and doubles championships and will be playing for its first team championship since 1986 after a 10-2 regular season (3-1 MWC North). Lawrence claimed one individual championship last season when Elizabeth Larson and Jennifer Roesch captured the No. 1 doubles title and they both return to defend that title this season. The duo is 11-3 overall and 10-2 in dual matches out of their flight. Larson will also contend for the No. 1 singles title as she finished runner-up in 2010 and holds a perfect 12-0 dual record this season. Christina Schaupp holds an 11-1 mark in the No. 4 flight while Hannah Geoffrey and Gayatri Malhotra both have 10 wins in the No. 5 and No. 3 flights, respectively. Geoffrey and Schaupp also team up in the No. 3 doubles flight where they hold an 8-0 dual match record.

After a tough regular season Monmouth looks to claim points in the singles and doubles competition in Madison, Wis. Monmouth is looking for the first individual medal since the 2008 season when Amy Unzicker took home a championship in the No. 2 singles flight. The Fighting Scots finished the 2010 championship in ninth place and will rely on the doubles team of Tessa Ginn and Kristen Huffman who has a win in the No. 1 doubles flight. Kristen Huffman will play out of the No. 1 flight after earning three wins last season in the No. 2 flight while Ginn will play out of the No. 2 singles flight. Amanda Buck and Kortney Rupp will also challenge in the No. 2 doubles flight for the Fighting Scots.

After back-to-back eighth place finishes Ripon looks to move up in the standings in 2011 after finishing the regular season with a 3-9 record. Elizabeth Ake is the top singles player for the Red Hawks earning a 3-1 record in the No. 4 flight and a 5-3 mark in the No. 5 flight. Katie Majerowski will contend in the No. 3 flight with three wins while Josie Ullsperger has two wins in the No. 1 flight. Alison Thies and Olivia Wetzel team up as the top doubles pair with a record of 2-0 in the No. 2 flight and 3-7 mark in the No. 3 flight. Brittany Sullivan and Ullsperger will play out of the No. 1 flight where they have a 2-3 record on the season.

St. Norbert earned the top seed in the MWC North for the first time since 2007 and look for its second team championship in the past three years after an 11-3 regular season (4-0 MWC North). Individually it will compete for the first individual champion since 2009 when the Green Knights captured a No. 6 singles and No. 1 doubles flight championship. Anna Reardon sports a team-high 11 wins over three different flights, going 6-2 in the No. 6 singles flight. Ariel Bloniarz also has spanned her play over three flight with a 9-4 overall mark and a 5-3 record in the No. 4 flight while teammate Nancy Chybowski is 10-3 in the No. 2 flight. The pairing of Maria Slusarek and Laura Michel look to avenge their championship loss in the No. 2 doubles flight as they have a 9-4 mark in the flight this season. Maggie Berens and Callie Schroeder have a team-best 10 doubles wins in the No. 3 flight and will contend for a championship in 2011.

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