by Joe Geni
On Sept. 8, women’s tennis lost a 5-4 decision to Cornell for its first loss of the year. Since then, Grinnell has gone 6-0, taken 53 of 54 matches in those six victories and blanked five consecutive Midwest Conference foes. The streak includes a 9-0 deconstruction of Lake Forest on Sunday in the heavily anticipated rematch of last year’s conference championship. No one has won an individual match against Grinnell in singles or doubles since Sept. 11.
“It was an amazing weekend,” said co-captain Jill Harms ’05. “I mean, coming after last year’s really tough loss to Lake Forest at Conference, to be able to come back and beat them 9-0 is a big statement going into the Conference Tournament this year.”
One day after dispatching Knox and Monmouth by 9-0 margins, the Pioneers squared off against the Foresters team that upset them at Conference 11 months ago.
“Losing last year made us want to win even more this year,” said No. 5 singles and No. 3 doubles player Rachel Engh ‘08, who defeated Lake Forest’s Heather Kelley 6-1, 6-1 on Sunday to help the Pioneer cause.
With revenge in mind, Grinnell stormed through the Foresters, winning all their singles matches in straight sets and surviving doubles without a serious challenge. The closest match was top singles player Camila Alarcon ‘08’s 7-5, 6-4 victory over Lake Forest’s Alli Berry, and at No. 2 singles Shweta Khajuria ‘07 blanked Brittany Richardson 6-0, 6-0.
“We really wanted it this year,” said Harms. “All of the upperclassmen went through losing to them last year, and it was really important for us to go out and beat Lake Forest. The first years stepped up because they all knew what it meant to us, and we played our guts and our hearts out and it all came together for us.”
With a firm grip on the conference race (Grinnell has already qualified for the tournament, finishing its regular season MWC schedule undefeated) the Pioneers turn to a spate of nonconference games, starting with the ITA Regional Championships this weekend at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. The meet will feature tough competition from Gustavus Adolphus, Luther, Carleton, Coe, and Cornell, the only team to beat Grinnell this season.
“We see this weekend as an opportunity to play better people and to see where we stand outside the conference, too,” said Engh.
The Pioneers then close with three road matches on Oct. 1-2 and the Alumnae Match the following week before heading to the Conference Tournament in Madison, Wisc. on Oct. 16.
Women’s tennis shut out three opponents this weekend, but Grinnell’s 9-0 domination of the Lake Forest team that had upset them in the Conference Tournament a year ago was the most impressive. A look at the individual results:
SinglesNo. 1 Camila Alarcon ‘08 def. Alli Berry 7-5, 6-4 No. 2 Shweta Khajuria ‘07 def. Brittany Richardson 6-0, 6-0 No. 3 Sid Khajuria ‘05 def. Ana. Rudkovskaya 6-2, 6-3 No. 4 Jill Harms ‘05 def. Kendal Wapotish 6-4, 6-3 No. 5 Rachel Engh ‘08 def. Heather Kelley 6-1, 6-1 No. 6 Gretchen Lay ‘07 def. Jaime Jackson 6-2, 6-4 |
DoublesNo. 1 Harms/Alarcon def. Berry/Rudkovskaya 8-3 No. 2 Khajuria/Khajuria def. Richardson/Wapotish 8-2 No. 3 Engh/Newhouse def. Kelley, Jackson 8-3 |
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