(from midwestconference.org)
The 32nd Midwest Conference Women's Singles and Doubles Tennis Champions will be crowned this weekend at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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The reigning Midwest Conference Performer of the Week, Abigail Pellett of Carroll University looks to continue her success over the weekend. Pellett went unbeaten (9-0) at the No. 1 singles position and 9-0 at No. 1 doubles with eight of those victories coming with teammate Julia Patzin. Also vying for the No. 1 singles crown is Elizabeth Manlick of St. Norbert College and Shirlene Luk of Grinnell College. Manlick's only defeat came at the hands of Pellet 6-0, 6-0, while Luk's only two conferences loss came in three sets to Manlick and Pellet.
No. 2 singles looks to be wide open as four women have just one conference loss and a fifth with two. Cornell College's Kezia Koroma finished the regular season with a league-high eight wins. Her lone loss came at the hands of Lawrence University's Katie Frankel, who had a 7-2 conference record. Julia Patzin of Carroll and Grace Dowling of Lake Forest College had identical 7-1 records, while St. Norbert's Katherine Ake enters the tournament with a 4-1 record after taking over the position midway through the year.
Lexi Chionis of Lake Forest College is the top contender at No. 3 singles after going 8-0 at that position during the regular season. Julia Thome of Cornell and Grinnell's Hannah Cook both went 6-2 and are vying for the top spot as well. Cook earned a three set victory 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 over Thome when the two teams met on Sept. 28.
St. Norbert's Erika Chitko, and Anna Gosz also went undefeated during the regular season at No. 4 and No. 5 singles, respectively. At. No. 4 singles, Shashanna Moll of Cornell looks to make some noise on Sunday after her only league loss came to Chitko, while Grinnell's Anushka Joshi went 6-2 in eight matches at the position.
Chasing Gosz at No. 5 singles is Cornell's Gariella Ferro and Grinnell's Julia Rumley. Gosz dispatched Ferro 6-1, 6-3 in her only defeat of the conference season, while Rumley was defeated by only Gosz and Ferro.
The Green Knights also have one of the top contenders at No. 6 singles in Ashley Randazzo, who boats a 7-1 conference record. Randazzo lone conference defeat was to Grinnell's Briannah Wilson on Oct. 4. Wilson had a 5-1 record in the sixth position with her only loss coming to Lawrence's Melissa Heeren. Cornell's Katie Mintle also enters the tournament with a 6-2 record.
Pellet and Patzin are one of three tandems to enter the weekend unbeaten in doubles play. St. Norbert's pair of Ake and Chitko have a 9-0 record at the No. 2 position, while Mintle and Moll of Cornell have a 5-0 record with four wins coming at No. 3 and a victory at No. 2.
Other top pairs at No. 1 doubles include Luk and Virginia Purcell (8-2) of Grinnell and St. Norbert's twosome of Nancy Chybowski and Manlick (7-2). Lake Forest's Lexi Chionis and Christi Valicneti shouldn't be overlooked either after completing conference play at 6-2.
At No.2 doubles Ake and Chitko dealt Cornell's pair of Ariana Hudson and Ferro an 8-3 loss on Oct. 4, but it was the Rams only loss of the regular season. Grinnell's No. 2 team of Cook and Joshi also enter the tournament with just one loss.
Behind Gosz and Randazzo at No. 3 doubles there are a number of teams with multiple losses. Grinnell's pair of Sydney Banach and Joshi were 3-2, equaling the record of Lawrence's Heeren and Tess Vogel. The only other team over .500 is Lake Forest's Zoe Maurer and Emily Rabin.
St. Norbert clinched the regular season title and the top seed in April's MWC Women's Tennis Team Tournament last weekend after going a perfect 9-0 in Midwest Conference play. Earning the second seed was Cornell (15-3, 9-1 MWC) with Grinnell (9-4, 8-2 MWC) taking the third seed and Lake Forest (10-4, 7-3 MWC) earning the fourth and final seed.
Doubles action gets underway at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon at Nielsen with the pigtail matches of the singles tournament to follow. The Singles Championship picks back up on 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning.
