The Forester women's tennis team began competition at the 2015 Midwest Conference Individual Tournaments in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday. Lake Forest's performance at the event was highlighted by a conference title at #2 doubles by freshman Billie Rodman and Allison Watts.
Seeded second at the event, Rodman and Watts won 24 of 26 games in their three matches combined. They began by blanking Monmouth College's #2 tandem 8-0 and they reached the final by defeating their counterparts from Carroll University 8-1. St. Norbert College handed Rodman and Watts their only conference loss of the regular season, an 8-3 decision five weeks ago, and they avenged that defeat by posting an 8-1 triumph over the tournament's top seed to win the title on Saturday.
The Foresters also had a finalist at #1 doubles, where seniors Christi Valicenti and Grace Dowling won 8-3 against the top teams from Beloit and Carroll. They finally fell 8-1 in the final against the #1 seeds from Grinnell College.
Junior Zoe Maurer and freshman Tricia Paterakos prevailed 8-4 against Monmouth College in the quarterfinals at #3 before being eliminated by the eventual champions from Grinnell in the semifinals.
Select early round matches in singles play were also contested on Saturday and Maurer advanced to the quarterfinals at #5.
The rest of the singles competition will occur on Sunday.
