Grinnell vs. St. Norbert Box Score
Grinnell vs. Lake Forest Box Score

ROCKFORD, Ill. – Six days after losing to Lake Forest College, the Grinnell College women's tennis team turned the tables on the Foresters in dominating fashion en route to capturing their fourth Midwest Conference title in a row.

Grinnell blanked Lake Forest 5-0 Friday afternoon in the title match at Boylan Tennis Center, giving the Pioneers their ninth league title in the last 10 years. With the championship comes an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III National Championships next May.

Grinnell improved to 11-4 with the win while handing the Foresters their first loss of the season as they dipped to 12-1.

The Pioneers, who lost all three doubles matches to Lake Forest last Saturday, had a complete reversal of fortune Friday by winning all three. Shirlene Luk '15 and Virginia Purcell '17 won 8-6 at No. 1, Sadhana Athreya '14 and Emma Macdonald '14 posted an 8-2 win at the second spot and Hanna Feldman '14 and Julia Rumley '16 teamed up to win 8-4 at No. 3.

Grinnell finished off the win with victories at No. 5 and 6 singles with Macdonald (7-6, 6-2) and Rumley (6-3, 6-2).

The Pioneers advanced to the title match with a 5-3 semifinal round victory over St. Norbert College Friday morning. The Green Knights had also beaten Grinnell earlier this season.

Grinnell trailed 2-1 after doubles, with Athreya and Macdonald getting an 8-0 win at the second spot. In singles, Luk won 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1, Athreya was victorious 7-6, 6-3 at No. 2, Feldman earned a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 4 and Macdonald posted a 6-2, 6-4 win at the fifth spot.

"I'm really excited that our women were able to win the championship, but first we want to congratulate St. Norbert and Lake Forest for having great regular seasons and having two very fine well-coached teams," said Grinnell coach Andy Hamilton. "This was a great day for Grinnell tennis. I couldn't more proud of the way our women performed and carried themselves on the court en route to their fourth straight championship.

"It would be really hard for me to not say great things about all our players, because every individual contributed to our win," Hamilton added. "I'm especially pleased for seniors Hanna Feldman, Emma Macdonald and Sadhana Athreya, who all scored very important points for us in both singles and doubles today to claim the title.

"Other bright spots for us were Shirlene Luk's singles victory against St. Norbert as she reversed the tables from the first match when we played them," he added. "The doubles win by Shirlene and Virginia against Lake Forest was truly extraordinary considering the fact Lake Forest might be the best No. 1 doubles team in the conference, so I'm happy for those two women. And in the No. 3 doubles against Lake Forest, Hanna and Julia really came out and forced the action while claiming an extremely important point for us.

"Today we talked to our women about playing with heart and playing smart," he continued. "I think it's safe to say in our second match against Lake Forest, we played the best we have all year. Now we're going to have to battle fatigue, soreness and tiredness in the individual tournament, but I'm hoping for great things from our women."

The MWC Tournament continues Saturday with doubles play and finishes up Sunday with singles competition.