The Lake Forest College women’s tennis team won the program’s first Conference title on Sunday Oct. 11, 2015, which hasn’t been won since 2003.
“Winning Conference has been a long time coming. Each year has ended in heartbreak with being so close and falling short. Finally winning means so much after all the hard work we’ve put in.” says senior co-captain Grace Dowling.
Heading into Homecoming Weekend, the Forester women’s tennis team needed to bring forth their best tennis of the season. This weekend marked the final weekend of dual matches for the Midwest Conference and Grinnell, St. Norbert, and Lake Forest were all still in contention to win the Midwest Conference title.
On Homecoming Saturday, the Forester women’s tennis team took on familiar foe Grinnell College. With a Conference title on the line, the Foresters were extra motivated to beat Grinnell to keep their title hopes alive.
However, the Foresters got off to a shaky start losing two out of three doubles, and losing their first two singles matches to quickly fall behind 1-4. One more match loss could have eliminated the Foresters from any hope of winning a Conference title.
With the four remaining singles players all needing to win, the outlook was not promising. However the Forester women’s tennis team slowly began closing the gap. Freshman Billie Rodman and Allison Watts were the next two to emerge victorious in singles. Rodman dominated at No. 1 singles with a dominating 6-1, 6-2 victory.
Watts had a dramatic comeback after being on the brink of losing the first set to beat her opponent from Grinnell in No. 4 singles 7-5, 6-2. Watts was well aware of the importance of the occasion and she admitted, “It made me feel nervous but gave me the drive to win even more.”
The final two matches were won by the two senior captains on the team Grace Dowling and Christi Valicenti. Valicenti brought her brand of athletic and crafty tennis against experienced Virginia Purcell of Grinnell to pull off a convincing 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles. Dowling clinched the team’s win against Grinnell at No. 3 singles with a 6-4, 7-5 win.
“For us seniors, we have been here for three years of top four finishes, and two of those were heart-breaker runner- up finishes.” Said co-captain Christi Valicenti.
Head Coach Raymond says, “They displayed great resilience overcoming a 4-1 deficit to beat Grinnell on Homecoming Saturday, which put us in a position to win the title. “
With a 5-4 win over Grinnell College, this led to a three way tie between St. Norbert, Grinnell, and Lake Forest. Grinnell beat St. Norbert 5-4 and St. Norbert beat Lake Forest 5-4. The tiebreaker came down to how many sets were won by each team. Grinnell and St. Norbert won 16 sets, but Lake Forest won 17 sets. Now all what was needed was a win against Cornell to win the Conference title.
The following day the Foresters played their final Conference match of the season against Cornell College. The Foresters came out firing and swept all three doubles matches. Playing the final conference dual match of her career, Valicenti was stunning to watch with numerous spectacular shots for a 6-4, 6-2 victory and putting the team a win away from becoming Conference Champs.
At No. 1 singles, Rodman faced Julia Thorne, one of the trickiest opponents in the Conference. Rodman, who is undefeated in dual singles matches this season, seemed unfazed in the opening set and won 6-3. Thorne responded to the challenge and raised her game to take the second set 6-4. In the third set, Rodman played lights- out tennis for a 6-2 final set win to clinch the Conference title for the Foresters.
Rodman said, “It was a tough week playing two of the best schools in the conference, but we fought through it because of our strong support for one another and dedication. The Foresters won 7-2 with the final two singles victories coming from Dowling and freshman Tricia Paterakos clawing her way to a three-set victory at No. 6 singles.
“This is a moment that nobody can take from them, that will last forever.” Says Assistant Head Coach Gabrielle Moore. The Foresters (11-1) will attend the Midwest Conference Individual Tournament at the University of Wisconsin-Madison starting Saturday, October 17.
The Foresters will return to Madison on Friday, April 29 as the No. 1 seeds at the Midwest Conference Team Tournament where the winner advances to the NCAA Tournament.
