GALESBURG, Ill.- The Western Illinois women's tennis team secured the third seed in the upcoming Summit League championship by defeating Oakland, 4-0, in its final match of the league cluster at Lakeside Racquet Club.
"I'm proud of this team for sticking together through this season and finishing up the regular season on a strong note," said Western Illinois head coach Michael Hunt. "Oakland is a solid team and we were fortunate to play them the morning after a really long battle with UMKC the night before."
Starting with singles play, the Westerwinds (13-11, 6-2 Summit League) took the first four matches decided to sweep the match against the Golden Grizzlies. Junior Amanda Griffin made the shortest work of her opponent, dismissing Lindsay Grimmer at the No. 1 singles spot, 6-0, 6-2.
Junior Stephanie Baumer won her third match of the weekend after taking down Caitlin Young, 6-3, 6-0, at No. 4 singles. Other winners for Western were seniors Kim Lennartsson and Zi Wang. Lennartsson beat Amanda Scheer, 6-3, 7-5, at No. 2, while Wang downed Karoub in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, at the No. 3 spot.
"Other than the Southern Utah match, we still haven't played to our potential in this conference," stated Hunt. "We've seen Oral Roberts now and should have a good idea of what they can do when we play them next weekend. If we can get everyone playing their best tennis on the same day, anything can happen."
As the No. 3 seed, the Westerwinds face Oral Roberts in the semifinals of the Summit League championship for the second year in a row, April 24. If Western wins, it'll face the winner of the semifinal match between No. 1 IPFW and No. 4 Southern Utah.
"We'll work hard this week to get ready for the conference tournament next weekend," Hunt said. "We won't be the favorite in the semifinals, but at least we are out of the 1-4 matchup for the first time."
April 19, 2009
Galesburg, Ill. (Lakeside Racquet Club)
Singles
1. Amanda Griffin (WIU) def. Lindsay Grimmer 6-0, 6-2
2. Kim Lennartsson (WIU) def. Amanda Scheer 6-3, 7-5
3. Zi Wang (WIU) def. Karen Karoub 6-3, 6-3
4. Stephanie Baumer (WIU) def. Caitlin Young 6-3, 6-0
5. Kate Kennedy (WIU) vs. Michelle Maxfield 3-3, susp.
6. Yana Meinert (WIU) led Jackie Dinicu 5-3, susp.
Doubles
Did not play.
