[St. Norbert 5, Lake Forest 0]

[Grinnell 5, Lawrence 0]

[Grinnell 5, St. Norbert 0]

[Championship Page]

ROCKFORD, Ill. – Grinnell captured its 10th championship in school history and seventh in the past eight years with a 5-1 victory over St. Norbert in the 2011 Midwest Conference Women’s Tennis Championship at Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford, Ill.

The Pioneers won its semi-final match against Lawrence 5-0 earlier in the day. Grinnell swept the doubles completion earning victories from Sadhana Athreya and Constanza Alarcon in the No. 1 flight 8-3 over last season’s doubles champions Elizabeth Larson and Jennifer Roesch from Lawrence.

Constanza Alarcon and Emma Macdonald earned a 9-7 victory in the No. 2 flight while Shirlene Luk and Toby Cain completed the sweep. Clothide Thirouin (No. 5 singles, 6-2, 6-0) and Hanna Feldman (No. 6 singles, 6-3, 6-2) sealed the victory with wins in their respective single flights.

St. Norbert earned a trip to the championship game by defeating Lake Forest by the identical score, also sweeping the doubles flights. Kelly Van Handel and Nancy Chybowski brought home an 8-3 victory in the No. 1 doubles flight and Maria Slusarek and Laura Michel earned an 8-2 win in the No. 2 flight. Callie Schroeder and Maggie Berens won a hard fought match against Gracie Mullins and Kaitlyn Martin 9-8 (7-4) in the No. 3 flight to set up the Green Knights win. Slusarek swept past Lake Forest in the No. 6 singles flight while Chybowski won 6-0, 6-2 to punch a ticket to the championship.

Grinnell opened up the championship match with two victories in doubles play in the No. 2 and 3 flights. Alarcon and Mcdonald earned an 8-6 victory while the team of Luk and Cain scored an 8-1 decision. In one of the best matches of the day the Green Knights got on the board when Van Handel and Chybowski eeked out a 9-8 (5) victory over Grinnell’s No. 1 flight pair of Athreya and Krull. Cain picked up a 6-0, 6-1 victory in the No. 6 singles match before Feldman closed out a 6-2, 6-0 victory in the No. 5 flight. Thirouin closed out the championship day for Grinnell as she finished off with a 6-3, 6-3 victory in the No. 4 flight for the Pioneers 10th championship.

With the win Grinnell earns the Midwest Conference automatic qualifier to the 2011 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship which takes place May 22-27 at the Cary Tennis Center in Cary, N.C.

The championship weekend continues on Saturday when the teams will shift to Nielsen Tennis Center to compete in the doubles championship. The first matches are set for 1:00 p.m.
 

Here is the championship trophy presentation:

Grinnell senior Toby Cain talks about winning the team championship:

Grinnell Head Coach Andy Hamilton talks about winning the school's 10th team championship: