Pioneer women's tennis team wraps up first unbeaten fall since 2011 with pair of big wins

Grinnell 5, Bethel 4
Grinnell 9, Cornell 0

GRINNELL, Iowa - Grinnell College's women's tennis team wrapped up its fall dual slate with two wins Saturday, and both were significant in their own right.

The Pioneers began the day in the Bear Center Field House with a 5-4 win over Bethel University, a team that finished 35th in the end-of-the-season NCAA Division III national rankings last spring. Bethel played Grinnell last March and defeated the Pioneers 8-1.

Grinnell followed the Bethel win by finishing Midwest Conference play with an exclamation point, blanking Cornell College 9-0. The win gave the Pioneers a perfect 9-0 mark in league play while completing an unbeaten run through the fall regular-season slate for the first time since 2011.

Grinnell got off to a great start in its highly-anticipated match with Bethel, grabbing a 2-1 lead through doubles play with an 8-5 win by Sabrina Tang '23 and Sophia de los Reyes '23 at the second slot and 8-3 decision by Izzy Green '22 and Brenda Guan '20 at No. 3.

De los Reyes won 6-2, 7-5 at No. 4 singles and Ali Hickey '21 posted a 7-6, 6-3 win at No. 3 to bring the Pioneers within a match of the victory. Abby Nielsen '21 delivered that win, rallying for a 6-7, 6-2, 6-0 win at the second spot.

One of the other more exciting matches came at No. 1, where Tang gave ITA Midwest Regional champion Grace Riermann all she could handle before the Bethel player escaped with a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 victory.

Grinnell stepped back into conference play after that and promptly took care of Cornell. The Pioneers began with doubles wins by the duos of Tang-de los Reyes (8-1), Green-Guan (8-0) and Mamie Sevier '23-Josephine Blumenthal '23 (8-2).

Then the Pioneers breezed through singles with victories by Nielsen (6-0, 6-0), Hickey (6-0, 6-0), de los Reyes (6-0, 6-0), Green (6-2, 6-2), Blumenthal (6-0, 6-0) and Sara Amano '22 (6-1, 6-0).

The Cornell win was Grinnell's 37th victory in its last 38 MWC matches, dating back to 2015. It also marked Grinnell's eighth shutout in MWC play this season.

Guan now ranks 10th in Pioneer history with 55 career doubles victories. Hickey moved up to 22nd in career singles wins with 36.

Grinnell will conclude the fall season next weekend when it competes in the Midwest Conference Individual Singles and Doubles Tournament in Madison, Wis.

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Players Mentioned

Brenda Guan: Junior

Ali Hickey: Sophomore

Abby Nielsen: Sophomore

Sara Amano: First-Year

Izzy Green: First-Year

Sophia de los Reyes: First-Year

Mamie Sevier: First-Year

Sabrina Tang: First-Year

Josephine Blumenthal: First-Year

Players Mentioned

Brenda Guan
: Junior

Ali Hickey
: Sophomore

Abby Nielsen
: Sophomore

Sara Amano
: First-Year

Izzy Green
: First-Year

Sophia de los Reyes
: First-Year

Mamie Sevier
: First-Year

Sabrina Tang
: First-Year

Josephine Blumenthal
: First-Year