Five members of the Lake Forest College women's tennis team traveled to St. Louis over the weekend to compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Tournament. Senior Melika Celebic turned in the Foresters' best performance at the event.
Celebic reached the round of 32 in singles before falling to Surya Khadilkar of Case Western Reserve University. Celebic advanced past the first round by walkover and defeated Olivia Bouchard of Kalamazoo College 6-0, 6-2 in the round of 64.
The other four Foresters at the event suffered opening round defeats and were sent to the consolation bracket, where freshman Christi Valicenti advanced to the round of 16 before falling to the bracket's eventual winner. She won 6-0, 6-2 in the opening round and 6-1, 6-2 in the round of 32. Junior Amie Fadden prevailed 6-0, 6-1 and sophomore Gracie Mullins posted a narrow 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), (10-6) triumph in their first matches but were eliminated in the round of 32. Freshman Grace Dowling was defeated in the first round by one of the eventual semifinalists.
All three Forester doubles teams fell in the opening round and were also sent to the consolation bracket. Celebic and Valicenti prevailed 8-4 in the round of 32 and the round of 16 before being knocked out in the quarterfinals. Mullins and Dowling experienced a similar fate, winning 8-0 in the round of 32 and 8-6 in the round of 16 before bowing out in the quarterfinals. Fadden and sophomore Lucy Cooper were defeated in the opening round.
Lake Forest will resume dual matches against Midwest Conference opponents next weekend. The Foresters will travel to Monmouth College for a 5:00 p.m. match on Friday and to Knox College for an 8:00 contest Saturday morning. They will be the final regular season dual matches of the fall before the MWC Championships the following weekend.