Sophomore Julie Lord posted a pair of convincing victories at the top of the lineup and Lake Forest prevailed 7-2 at Wheaton College Thursday night.
Lord and junior Leeza Bodnar defeated the Thunder's #1 doubles team 8-1 to start the evening. Senior Allison Watts and sophomore Tyranny Miller added an 8-6 triumph for the visitors at #2 and sophomore Emma Wang and freshman Tebatso Duba prevailed by the same score at #3 to finish off the doubles sweep. The win for Watts was the 157th of her career in singles and doubles combined, matching the program record set by Christi Valicenti in 2016.
Lord continued her success in singles, taking both sets from Wheaton's top player 6-1. Duba then closed out a 6-4, 6-1 victory at #3 to clinch the match for the Foresters. The teams split the final four matches with Bodnar coming out on top of a 6-3, 6-4 decision at #4 and Wang edging out her opponents 7-5, 2-6, (10-7) at #5.
Lake Forest, the 17th-ranked team in the Central Region in today's Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, improved to 17-3 on the year while Wheaton, ranked 14th in the region, fell to 11-5.
The Foresters are scheduled to take on Concordia University Wisconsin at Carthage College Monday at 5:30 p.m.