The Lawrence University women’s tennis team ended their season this past weekend in Madison, Wisconsin at the Midwest Conference singles and doubles championships. After finishing sixth in the conference and out of the conference tournament, this was the last opportunity for the Lady Vikes to end their season on a high note.
The championship started off with the doubles competition on Saturday, October 14th. At No. 1 doubles representing Lawrence was senior Lindsay Holsen and junior Katie Nottberg. They got off to a rough starting losing their quarterfinal match to a pair from St. Norbert 8-4. However, they went on to win their next to matches. They beat a doubles pair from Illinois College 8-3 in the consolation semifinals and won the consolation final 8-6 over the pair from Knox. At No. 2 doubles, juniors Annie Harincar and El Goblirsch also lost in the quarterfinal round. The pair from Cornell got the best of them taking the match 8-4. They bounced back as well to also take the consolation title as they beat a pair from Ripon 8-5 in the consolation semifinals and a pair from Monmouth 8-4 in the consolation final. At No. 3 doubles, sophomore Alexis Shannon and freshman Lindsey Lucas won their round one match over Ripon 8-6. They, however, were beat by a pair from Grinnell 8-2 in the quarterfinal round.
Sunday featured the singles portion of the championships. Lawrence had strong showings at No. 1 and No. 3 singles taking home two consolation titles. Holsen was playing No. 1 singles. She started off by losing her quarterfinal match 6-2, 6-1 to Jordyn Lawastch of St. Norbert. Holsen went on to win her next two matches, 8-1 over Courtney Olson of Ripon in the consolation semifinals and 8-0 over Sally Hixson of Illinois College in the consolation finals. Nottberg playing No. 3 singles followed a similar route to her consolation title. She lost her quarterfinal match 6-1, 6-0 to Leeza Bodnar of Lake Forest. In her consolation semifinal she beat Ariel Rhodes of Illinois College 8-1. Nottberg won the consolation final 8-5 over Lauren Paulson of St. Norbert.
At No. 2 singles, Harincar won her round one match 6-2, 6-0 over Lisa Noggle of Illinois College. However, Harincar was eliminated in the quarterfinal round after dropping her match 6-2, 6-0 to Amelia Cogan of Grinnell. At No. 4 singles, Goblirsch won her first-round match 6-2, 6-2 over Hayden Lamphere of Beliot. Goblirsch was eliminated in the quarterfinal round as she lost 6-1,6-3 to Tyranny Miller of Lake Forest. At No. 5 singles, Lucas lost a close match to Lexi Tibbs of Monmouth 7-6 (0-2), 2-6, 7-6 (0-5) in the first round. Lucas also lost another close match, 9-7 in her consolation semifinal against Maddie Schacht of Knox. At No. 6 singles, freshman Tille Teske lost her quarterfinal match to Samantha Russel of Lake Forest 6-1,6-0. She was eliminated in the consolation semifinals as she lost to Ripon’s Katelyn Peroutka 8-5.
This championship ended the 2017 season for the women’s tennis team. Though they were small this year, they finished in the middle of the conference with a 6-11 record overall and 4-5 record in conference play. The Lady Vikes will look to improve upon this result next year. They will have some big shoes to fill, however, as Holsen, who has consistently played No.1 singles and doubles will graduate.
