Grinnell 5, St. Norbert 1
Grinnell 5, Lake Forest 1

MADISON, Wis. - Grinnell College's women's tennis team, already enjoying a stellar season, added to its pleasure Thursday by winning the Midwest Conference Team Tournament to advance to the NCAA Division III National Tourney.

The Pioneers, ranked 19th in the Central Region, are making their ninth trip to the NCAAs since 2007 after beating St. Norbert College 5-1 in the semifinals and finishing off the tourney run with an idential 5-1 win over Lake Forest College.

Grinnell is now 19-4, the most wins for the program since the 2011-12 season and the second-most ever for the Pioneers.

Additionally, Milica Cvrkota '21 broke Grinnell's season wins record for singles against St. Norbert and added another for her 27th of the season. Abby Nielsen '21 ranks second in that category with 25 wins and Ali Hickey '21 is fifth with 24.

Hickey ranks third in season doubles victories with 24, while Cvrkota and Nielsen are tied for fourth with 23. Anushka Joshi '18 is fourth in career singles wins with 64 and seventh in doubles victories with 59.

Grinnell's win over Lake Forest came against a team that entered the match with a 23-2 record. The Pioneers got off to a great start by taking two of the three doubles categories, as Cvrkota and Nielsen won 8-1 at the top spot and Sydney Banach '18 and Brenda Guan '20 earned an 8-6 decision at No. 3.

Grinnell finished off the match with wins at the top three singles spots with Cvrkota (6-2, 6-0), Hickey (6-0, 6-1) and Nielsen (6-0, 6-4).

The Pioneers got out to an identical 2-1 start in doubles against St. Norbert, as Cvrkota and Nielsen won 8-5 and Hickey and Joshi posted an 8-3 victory at No. 2. In singles, winners were Cvrkota at No. 1 (6-4, 6-1), Nielsen at No.3 (6-0, 6-0) and Joshi at No. 4 (6-1, 6-0).

The NCAA Tournament will be in two weeks, with Grinnell's regional matchup at a site and against an opponent to be determined.