DENVER, Colo. – The Western Illinois women's tennis team will make a return trip to Denver this weekend, this time to compete at the Summit League Championships. The event will be played at the Gates Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Denver.
Last weekend, Western closed out the regular season in a Summit League cluster at Denver – losing to South Dakota State, Denver and South Dakota.
This marks the first Summit League postseason appearance for the Leathernecks (0-18 overall, 0-6 Summit League) since 2009, a 4-0 defeat in the semifinals to Oral Roberts. Western will look to snap a five-match losing streak in Summit League postseason play.
OPPONENT: vs. Fort Wayne (16-9 overall, 4-2 Summit)... Summit League Championship
WHEN: Friday, April 25 - 11 a.m. central
WHERE: Gates Tennis Center in Denver, Colorado
TWITTER: @WIUAthletics and @SummitChamps for updates throughout the match
WEBSITE: The Summit League
PROBABLE STARTING LINE-UP
1. Jenna Wallace (Fr.)
2. Nicole Jones (Fr.)
3. Jessica Callahan (Jr.)
4. Andriana Johnson (Fr.)
5. Ese Davis (Soph.)
6. Jamee Hale (R-Fr.)
Doubles position
1. Jones/Wallace
2. Johnson/Hale
3. Davis/Melissa Alger (Jr.)
SUMMIT LEAGUE POST-SEASON NOTES: Western will make its first appearance in the Summit League Tournament since 2009… A win would snap Western's five-match losing streak in Summit League postseason play… The program's highest finish ever was runner-up, on six different occasions. All six times occurred between 1996-2001... This marks the first time since 2000 that every conference team advanced to the postseason tournament.
LAST TIME VS. FORT WAYNE: Western traveled to Fort Wayne in early April for a Summit League cluster… The Leathernecks closed out the weekend with a 7-0 loss to the host Mastodons… Jenna Wallace lost her number one singles match 2-6, 4-6 while Nicole Jones fell 2-6, 0-6 at number two… Jessica Callahan and Jamee Hale were blanked at the number three and six singles match, respectively… Andriana Johnson lost 1-6, 1-6 at number four… Ese Davis lost 0-6, 1-6 at number five… Fort Wayne swept the doubles point.
YOUNG ROSTER: Western Illinois arguably has the youngest roster in all of Division I tennis… The Fighting Leathernecks have three true-freshman among the top four players, and another redshirt-freshman at number five... Another member of the roster is a JUCO transfer, competing at the Division I level for the first time… The only returning veterans are Jessica Callahan (three years) and Ese Davis (one year).
TWO SIGNINGS FOR NEXT YEAR: Western signed two players to join the program next year… Courtney Lubbers (Wichita, KS) signed in the fall and Anrianna Demos (Ballwin, MO) recently signed this spring… Lubbers is considered a three-star recruit according to the Tennis Recruiting Network while Demos is listed as a two-star recruit.
