Green Knights Top Cornell, Fall to Grinnell For MWC Title

From Sports Information Director, October 8, 2016 | Women's Tennis
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

GREEN BAY - St. Norbert College was in position to claim its first Midwest Conference women's tennis championship since 2014 but couldn't quite close it out.

The Green Knights topped Cornell College 7-2 in the first of two key MWC dual matches, but then fell 5-4 to Grinnell College. St. Norbert (10-6, 8-1 MWC) held a 4-3 lead on Grinnell (9-1, 8-0) with two singles matches in tiebreakers, but the Pioneers won both to win the dual at the MWC championship.

St. Norbert took two of the three doubles points to stake itself to a 2-1 lead. Katherine Ake and Katlyn Gahan topped Megan Jans and Anushka Joshi 8-4 at No. 2, while Anna Gosz and Ashley Randazzo beat Lily Hamilton and Brenda Guan 8-3 at No. 3.

Meg Witt's 6-2, 6-3 win over Guan at No. 6 singles gave St. Norbert a 3-2 lead. Katlyn Gahan's 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Joshi at No. 4 singles put the Green Knights ahead 4-3. But Hamilton's 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 win over Randazzo at No. 5 singles and Judith Fan's 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 6-3 win over Elizabeth Manlick at No. 1 gave the Pioneers the victory.

Against Cornell, St. Norbert won all three doubles points. Manlick and Witt topped Julie Thome and Shashanna Moll 8-5 at No. 1. Ake and Gahan defeated Gabriella Ferro and Janice Elkerton 8-6 at No. 2, while Gosz and Randazzo beat Abbey Nelson and Raquel Ruiz 8-2 at No. 3.

Ake picked up a 6-4, 6-2 win over Moll at No. 2 singles, followed by a 6-1, 6-0 win for Gahan over Nelson at No. 4. Randazzo beat Ruiz 7-5, 7-5 at No. 5 and Witt beat Anne Seng 6-4, 6-2 at No. 6.