The Grinnell College women’s tennis team claimed its seventh Midwest Conference title in the last eight years, and finished its fall campaign unbeaten, with a 5-1 victory over St. Norbert College Friday afternoon in Rockford, Ill.
The victory sends Grinnell to 13-0 on the season as the Pioneers earned the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA Division III National Tournament next spring. St. Norbert fell to 12-4.
Grinnell opened the afternoon with wins at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles with the teams of Constanza Alarcon ’13-Emma Macdonald ’14 and Shirlene Luk ’15-Toby Cain ’12. Alarcon and Macdonald won 8-5 and Luk and Cain won 8-1.
The Pioneers finished off the victory with wins at three singles spots. Clothilde Thirouin ’14 won 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4, Hanna Feldman ’14 won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 5 and Cain posted a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 6.
“We’re very pleased to win our second consecutive Midwest Conference championship, and seventh in the last eight years,” said Grinnell coach Andy Hamilton. “This is a good note of how strong our program is at Grinnell. I think this team, with all due respect to other women’s tennis championship teams at Grinnell, is the best we’ve had here. We proved it here today with a couple of very fine hard-fought victories against good teams from Lawrence and St. Norbert, and we proved it all year with a perfect record so far.
“We look forward to having the opportunity to make more impressions in the Midwest Conference individual tournaments,” he added. “We’re incredibly pleased to be in the position that we are and to represent the Midwest Conference next spring at the NCAA Tournament.”
The MWC Doubles Tournament is slated for Saturday at Madison, Wis., and the Singles Tournament is Sunday.
