Foresters Win Twice, Clinch MWC Title

Foresters Win Twice, Clinch MWC Title

The Lake Forest College women's tennis team prevailed 9-0 at St. Norbert College Saturday morning and by the same score at Lawrence University later in the day.

The Foresters improved to 11-0 overall and 8-0 in Midwest Conference play. With a one-match lead over Grinnell College, a victory over the Pioneers three weeks ago, and just one conference contest remaining, the team has clinched the fourth league title in program history.

Lake Forest started the day by sweeping the doubles competition at St. Norbert. Sophomore Julie Lord and junior Leeza Bodnar defeated the Green Knights' top tandem 8-2 while senior Allison Watts and sophomore Tyranny Miller won by the same score at #2. Sophomores Grace Gould and Emma Wang added an 8-3 victory at #3.

Watts was the first to finish in singles, sweeping the first set 6-0 and taking the second 6-2 at #2. Freshman Katie Wegrecki then finished off a 6-0, 6-0 blanking of her counterpart at #6 to clinch the Forester win. Lord won 6-1, 6-2 at the top spot in the lineup and Bodnar prevailed 6-1, 6-3 at #3. Miller edged out her opponent 7-5, 6-3 and Wang finished off the day with a 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, (10-6) come-from-behind victory at #4. 

The scores were far more lopsided at Lawrence, beginning with 8-0 shutouts in each of the three doubles matches. Lord and Bodnar, in just their second season together, tied the program record for career victories by a #1 doubles team at 26. Wang and Gould earned their 10th victory in a row, matching the program's longest run by a doubles team at any position.

Playing at the same spots in the lineup as earlier in the day, Watts, Wang, and Miller also won every game in singles. Wang now owns the second-longest singles winning streak in team history at 13 matches, a run that includes two wins at the end of last spring. Lord and Wegrecki dropped just one game apiece, Lord in the first set and Wegrecki in the second, and Bodnar prevailed 6-2, 6-0 at #3.

St. Norbert fell to 8-5 overall and 5-3 in the league and Lawrence is now 4-9 overall and 2-7 in MWC play.

The Foresters will play their final dual match of the fall semester at Ripon College on Sunday. The contest is scheduled to begin at noon.