The Lake Forest College women's tennis team won 9-0 at Beloit College on Tuesday in the Midwest Conference opener for both teams. Junior Grace Dowling and senior Gracie Mullins blanked their opponents 8-0 at #2 doubles and are now tied for second place in program history with 27 career victories as doubles partners.
Dowling and Mullins are 27-11 together over the last two-plus seasons. They tied Melika Celebic and Nonie Carson, who won 27 times against 12 losses from 2009-11. The school record is held by Shannon Sobieski and Jamie Irons, who posted a 32-16 mark from 1998-2000.
In addition to the Foresters' victory at #2 doubles, junior Christi Valicenti and sophomore Lexi Chionis prevailed 8-2 at #1 while junior Emily Rabin and sophomore Zoe Maurer posted an 8-1 victory at #3. Valicenti now has 44 doubles wins in her career, tying her for third place in team history.
Lake Forest players came out on top of all six singles matches with each of the bottom five ending with the same 6-1, 6-0 score. Sophomore Brittany Khayet was the first to finish at #5 and Rabin clinched the team victory with her triumph at #6. Dowling finished off her match at #2, followed by Chionis at #3 and Mullins at #4. Valicenti closed out the contest with a 6-2, 6-3 win at the top spot in the lineup.
The Foresters raised their overall record on the season to 4-1 while the Buccaneers fell to 1-5.
Lake Forest will continue conference play at home this weekend, beginning with a match against Ripon College at 8:30 Saturday morning. The Foresters will also host St. Norbert College at 3:00 that afternoon and Lawrence University Sunday morning at 8:30.
