Three Lake Forest College players are competing in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan, this weekend. Highlighting the tournament for the Foresters was the play of junior Christi Valicenti, who won twice to advance to the round of 32 in singles.
Valicenti started the day by outlasting Olivia Bouchard of Kalamazoo 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4 in the round of 128. It was her first career victory in ITA singles play. Miranda Pence of Augustana College was Valicenti's second round opponent and the Foresters' top player came out on top of a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) decision to advance. She was then defeated 6-0, 6-0 by #2 seed Jamie Silverberg of Washington University-St. Louis on Saturday.
Fellow Forester junior Grace Dowling also won the in the opening round, defeating Aubrie Sabin of Millikin University 6-1, 6-1. She was then eliminated by Sruthi Ramaswami from the University of Chicago by the score of 6-0, 6-3.
Sophomore Lexi Chionis was defeated 6-0, 6-4 in the opening round and 7-5, 4-6, (10-7) in the first round of the consolation bracket.
Valicenti and Chionis also competed in doubles but fell to Case Western Reserve 8-3 in the first round.
Lake Forest's next competition will be a Midwest Conference match against visiting Carroll University on Wednesday. The contest will begin at 3:00 p.m.