Women’s Tennis

Category: Women’s Tennis

UW-La Crosse tops Lawrence

LA CROSSE, Wis. — The UW-La Crosse women’s tennis team took a 9-0 nonconference victory over Lawrence University on Thursday at Veterans Courts. The Eagles remain unbeaten on the season at 4-4. Lawrence slipped to 2-2.

UW-La Crosse 9, Lawrence University 0

Singles competition
1. Bridget Bellissimo (UWL) def. Hannah Geoffrey (LU) 6-1, 6-1
2. Kimmy Mrozek (UWL) def. Katie Frankel (LU) 6-1, 6-3
3. Bryanne Blanton (UWL) def. Lyndsey Holsen (LU) 6-0, 6-2
4. Kendra Woyahn (UWL) def. Allison Juda (LU) 6-0, 6-0
5. Jennifer Graham (UWL) def. Tess Vogel (LU) 6-1, 6-2
6. Rachael Wabers (UWL) def. Melissa Heeren (LU) 6-1, 6-0

Doubles competition
1. Bridget Bellissimo/Kimmy Mrozek (UWL) def. Hannah Geoffrey/Katie Frankel (LU) 8-3
2. Bryanne Blanton/Rachael Wabers (UWL) def. Lyndsey Holsen/Ali Heiring (LU) 8-2
3. Jennifer Graham/Alaina Bublitz (UWL) def. Allison Juda/Elena Watson (LU) 8-0

Lawrence blows out Marian 9-0

FOND DU LAC, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s tennis team rolled to a 9-0 nonconference victory over Marian University on Friday.

Lawrence (2-1) dropped only two games in the three doubles matches and lost a total of seven games in the six singles matches against the Sabres (1-3).

After racing to a 3-0 lead after the doubles, Lawrence posted three 6-0, 6-0 victories in singles. Allison Juda (No. 4), Tess Vogel (No. 5) and Melissa Heeren (No. 6) all won their singles matches without dropping a game.

Hannah Geoffrey (No. 1), Katie Frankel (No. 2) and Lyndsey Holsen (No. 3) also rolled to straight-sets victories in singles.

Lawrence University 9, Marian University 0

Singles competition
1. Hannah Geoffrey (LU) def. Spannbauer,Melissa (MU) 6-0, 6-3
2. Katie Frankel (LU) def. Austin,Samantha (MU) 6-2, 6-0
3. Lyndsey Holsen (LU) def. Gapinski,Jenny (MU) 6-1, 6-1
4. Allison Juda (LU) def. Boyle,Natalie (MU) 6-0, 6-0
5. Tess Vogel (LU) def. Fischer,Kaylyn (MU) 6-0, 6-0
6. Melissa Heeren (LU) def. Schoenick,Chelsea (MU) 6-0, 6-0

Doubles competition
1. Hannah Geoffrey/Katie Frankel (LU) def. Spannbauer,Melissa/Austin,Samantha (MU) 8-1
2. Lyndsey Holsen/Ali Heiring (LU) def. Gapinski,Jenny/Boyle,Natalie (MU) 8-1
3. Allison Juda/Elena Watson (LU) def. Fischer,Kaylyn/Schoenick,Chelsea (MU) 8-0

Carthage tops Lawrence

KENOSHA, Wis. — The Carthage College women’s tennis team rolled to a 9-0 nonconference victory over Lawrence University on Wednesday at the Smeds Tennis Center.

Carthage improved to 2-0 on the season while the Vikings fell to 1-1.

 

Carthage College 9, Lawrence University 0

Singles competition
1. McPeek, Haleigh (CARTHAGE) def. Hannah Geoffrey (LU) 6-1, 6-0
2. Mella, Maxine (CARTHAGE) def. Katie Frankel (LU) 6-0, 6-1
3. Howell, Abbi (CARTHAGE) def. Lyndsey Holsen (LU) 6-2, 6-4
4. Bolyard, Taylor (CARTHAGE) def. Allison Juda (LU) 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-5)
5. Peterson, Kirsten (CARTHAGE) def. Tess Vogel (LU) 7-5, 6-4
6. Kalinka, Kristen (CARTHAGE) def. Melissa Heeren (LU) 6-2, 6-2

Doubles competition
1. McPeek, Haleigh/Mella, Maxine (CARTHAGE) def. Hannah Geoffrey/Katie Frankel (LU) 8-1
2. Howell, Abbi/Barter, Eliza (CARTHAGE) def. Lyndsey Holsen/Ali Heiring (LU) 8-2
3. Bolyard, Taylor/Kalinka, Kristen (CARTHAGE) def. Allison Juda/Elena Watson (LU) 8-0

Vikings open season with 8-1 win over MSOE

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s tennis team opened its season with an 8-1 nonconference victory over the Milwaukee School of Engineering on Wednesday at McKinley Courts.

The Vikings got the day off to a good start with a sweep of the three doubles matches. Hannah Geoffrey and Katie Frankel won at No. 1, Ali Heiring and Lyndsey Holsen won at No. 2 and Allison Juda and Elena Watson pitched a shutout with an 8-0 victory at No. 3.

Lawrence dropped just 11 games total in winning five singles matches, all in straight sets. Geoffrey won at No. 1, Holsen won at No. 3, Juda was a winner at No. 4, Tess Vogel won at No. 5 and Melissa Heeren was victorious at No. 6. Both Vogel and Heeren dropped just one game en route to their wins.

Holsen, a freshman from Oconomowoc, Wis., got her collegiate career off to a great start, picking up her first singles and doubles victories.

 

Lawrence University 8, MSOE 1

Singles competition
1. Hannah Geoffrey (LU) def. Grant, Carly (MSOE) 6-2, 6-2
2. Trier, Marly (MSOE) def. Katie Frankel (LU) 7-5, 6-2
3. Lyndsey Holsen (LU) def. Lee, Shelly (MSOE) 6-1, 6-2
4. Allison Juda (LU) def. Avery, Melanie (MSOE) 6-1, 6-1
5. Tess Vogel (LU) def. Kelley, Brittany (MSOE) 6-1, 6-0
6. Melissa Heeren (LU) def. Chaudhari, Riya (MSOE) 6-0, 6-1

Doubles competition
1. Hannah Geoffrey/Katie Frankel (LU) def. Grant, Carly/Trier, Marly (MSOE) 8-5
2. Lyndsey Holsen/Ali Heiring (LU) def. Lee, Shelly/Avery, Melanie (MSOE) 8-2
3. Allison Juda/Elena Watson (LU) def. Chaudhari, Riya/Skowronski, Phoebe (MSOE) 8-0

Lawrence tennis teams earn ITA All-Academic honors

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s and women’s tennis teams were both chosen as All-Academic Teams by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

Seven women’s tennis players and four of the men also earned ITA Scholar-Athlete status because of their academic achievement.

To be eligible for the team award, a squad must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.20. The Lawrence women posted a superb 3.61 grade point average, and the Lawrence men were at 3.23.

Lawrence was the only women’s team from the Midwest Conference to pick up the award. The Lawrence men were joined by one other conference school, Cornell College.

To be eligible for the Scholar-Athlete award, a student-athlete must have a grade point average of at least 3.50 for the current academic year.

Earning the Scholar-Athlete award for the women were: senior Brenna Decker (Johnsburg, Ill./Johnsburg), freshman Katy Frankel (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield), junior Melissa Heeren (Wausau, Wis./East), sophomore Ali Heiring (Wayzata, Minn./Wayzata), junior Allison Juda (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove), senior Gayatri Malhotra (Litchfield Park, Ariz./Verrado) and junior Elena Watson (Sunbury, Ohio/Big Walnut).

In that group, Watson had a perfect 4.0 GPA for the year, and both Juda (3.98) and Heeren (3.96) were close behind.

On the men’s side, senior Jeremy Andereck (Hartford, Wis./Hartford Union), sophomore Adam Busch (Hales Corners, Wis./Greendale Martin Luther), sophomore Brian DeCorte (Southampton, Pa./William Tennett) and freshman David Jumes (Appleton, Wis./Xavier) all received the Scholar-Athlete award.

DeCorte had the highest GPA for the year at 3.84 and Jumes was next at 3.75.

In addition to the ITA awards, nine Lawrence women’s tennis players and five men’s players were named to the Academic All-Midwest Conference team.

Lawrence student-athletes honored on academic all-conference team

APPLETON, Wis. — Lawrence University had 165 student-athletes earn Academic All-Midwest Conference honors for 2013-14.

To be eligible for selection, a student-athlete must have a minimum grade point average of 3.3 during the academic year.

The women’s swimming and diving team led Lawrence with 16 student-athletes honored. Lawrence had five other teams that had double-digit selections — women’s outdoor track and field, women’s cross country, women’s indoor track and field, women’s soccer and men’s soccer.

The women’s outdoor track and field team was next with 15 student-athletes honored. Women’s cross country had 13 of its 16 team members chosen, and women’s indoor track and field had 13 selections. Women’s soccer had 10 selections, and women’s tennis saw nine of its 11 student-athletes chosen.

Lawrence’s top men’s team was soccer, which had 10 selections. Men’s golf had seven of its 11 student-athletes chosen.

Lawrence had 64 student-athletes chosen from the fall season, 57 from the winter season and 44 from the spring season.

Complete list

Inside LU Athletics: Francour sees bright future for Lawrence tennis

Steve Francour’s domain inside Alexander Gymnasium is all business.

The office of the Lawrence University men’s and women’s tennis coach has a white board filled with practice and recruiting notes, cases of tennis balls and a contraption for stringing racquets.

In that atmosphere, Francour places an imaginative and inventive take on his job with the Vikings.

“I think of playing tennis as kind of being an artist,” Francour said. “My job is to add skill sets to what you are trying to do. If you want to add a different color or a different medium, I can help you do that. I don’t make it black and white. I’m guiding you through a way to play.”

Deep in the heart of his first year coaching both teams, Francour is using more than two decades of collegiate coaching experience to begin shaping Lawrence’s teams. He will take the men’s team to Florida for a week of competition following final exams this week.

“I look at players as having their own unique skill set. Especially in tennis, you can’t make someone something they’re not,” Francour said. “You have a skill set. We have to make it the best it can be. If we have to add to that skill set or add tools to make you better, we will do that.”

Francour, who coached at UW-Oshkosh for 23 years before coming to Lawrence in 2013, can’t help but smile when he talks about his current teams. The Vikings have made the new coach feel right at home, Francour said.

“The tennis part has been easy,” Francour said. “The kids have been great. They have helped me with some things. Overall, I think the transition has been good.”

Francour’s greatest challenge involves recruiting the type of student-athlete that will be successful on and off the court at Lawrence. He said that student is different from the type of student he spent the last two decades recruiting.

“I’m understanding the type of kid that’s going to come to Lawrence. I’m getting the feel on recruiting,” said Francour, adding that he has been wowed by the deep affection people have for Lawrence.

“I’m very impressed with how if you’re a Lawrence graduate, you really have a tie-in with what the university did for you. Several people that I didn’t know were Lawrence graduates just couldn’t speak highly enough of the university. They tell you that without bring prompted. There’s a real fondness for having gone through the experience, being a graduate of Lawrence and seeing how it’s changed people’s lives.”

Francour also now believes in love at first sight, thanks to Lawrence.

“A young lady that I’m recruiting came for a visit. She applied and fell in love with the place on a visit,” Francour said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had someone tell me that before.”

Francour will lose three players from this year’s women’s team to graduation, and men’s player Jeremy Andereck also is a senior on a small men’s team. Recruiting is priority one to rebuild both teams.

“We’re starting from scratch. You’re building your own house instead of buying one,” Francour said.

“I think this is a place where we can compete for conference championships. I have no doubt that we can get the athletes in that are necessary. Tennis players tend to be very strong students that will gravitate towards Lawrence. We will provide them with an excellent education and an opportunity to compete. My goals are to win conference championships, get to the national tournament and see where it goes from there.”

Vikings take sixth at MWC Championships

MADISON, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s tennis team grabbed sixth place at the Midwest Conference Championships, which wrapped up Sunday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

No one advanced past the championship quarterfinals for the Vikings, who finished with 27 points. Grinnell won the title during Friday’s four-team MWC Tournament.

At Nos. 3 through 6 singles, each Lawrence player won her first-round match. All four players, Ali Heiring at No. 3, Katie Frankel at No. 4, Polly Dalton at No. 5 and Melissa Heeren at No. 6, were then defeated in the championship quarterfinals.

Both Gayatri Malhotra at No. 1 and Hannah Geoffrey at No. 2 were defeated in the opening round. Both players came back to win the consolation championship. Malhotra defeated Knox’s Dana Pierce 8-5, and Geoffrey beat Knox’s Emiley Brand 8-1.

All three doubles teams lost in the championship quarterfinals and were eliminated. Geoffrey and Heiring won the in the opening round at No. 1 before losing in straight sets in the quarterfinals. Malhotra and Dalton at No. 2 and Frankel and Allison Juda at No. 3 suffered the same fate.

Results

Inside LU Athletics: Vikings face critical stretch on volleyball court

This is a big week for the Lawrence University volleyball team.

With three Midwest Conference matches in five days, the next week will have a huge influence on whether the Vikings earn a berth in the four-team MWC Tournament.

“We have three matches in five days, and those three matches are going to have a significant bearing on whether we finish in the top four or not,” Lawrence coach Matt Schoultz said. “There’s a lot on those three matches.”

Lawrence enters this critical stretch of play with an 8-13 mark and a 3-2 record in the league. The Vikings have won three of their last four conference matches, with the only loss coming to No. 22 Cornell College, which is unbeaten at 6-0.

The Vikings host Lake Forest College (3-2 MWC) on Friday and then host Beloit College (1-3 MWC) on Saturday. Lawrence then entertains St. Norbert College (2-2 MWC) next Tuesday.

“They’re all winnable matches for us, but they are not going to be easy. It seems like anyone can beat anyone on any given night this year, with the exception of Cornell,” Schoultz said.

“We’re playing pretty well right now. The girls have some good confidence built up. Our tough nonconference schedule is beginning to pay dividends right now. It definitely prepared us for conference play.”

Lawrence put itself in this position by shutting out both Ripon College and Illinois College last week, and senior setter Diane McLeod was named the MWC Offensive Player of the Week. For the week, McLeod averaged 12.5 assists per set and helped the Vikings hit .281 as a team.

All that came as part of a difficult personal week for McLeod, who was grieving after the loss of her grandfather, who was an ardent Lawrence fan.

“She really surprised me. She was going through a lot with grandfather,” Schoultz said of McLeod. “I said to her after the Ripon match that her grandfather would have been proud.”

With McLeod directing the attack, Lawrence the Vikings have hit .178 as a team over the last five matches, as opposed to .128 over the first 16. Lawrence also continues to send a diverse attack at opponents with hitters Terese Swords, Megan Conley, Kayla Storm, Andrea Wilkinson and Betsy Sorensen giving the Vikings multiple options.

“We’ve had different people step up in different matches with kills,” Schoultz said. “It’s a lot harder to defend a team that can attack you in a lot of different ways. Over the past few weeks, we’ve had strong showings from different players in different matches.”

The defense has also progressively improved during the season. Opponents are hitting just .132 against Lawrence in the last five matches. The ringleader of the defensive effort is all-conference libero Kathleen Rowland.

“She’s a rock back there,” Schoultz said of Rowland. “She saves us a lot. Just the defensive mindset she brings to our team. The defense is a big part of why we are being successful.”

Couple the improving offense with the solid defense, and it gives the Vikings an opportunity to reach the league tournament.

“That’s definitely the goal,” Schoultz said of reaching the MWC Tournament. “We set that early in our season as one of the goals we want to achieve.”

Vikings at MWC meet

The Lawrence women’s tennis team heads to the MWC Championships this weekend in Madison.

Since Lawrence missed out on playing in the four-team tournament on Friday, the best the Vikings can finish is fifth place. Lawrence, which took seventh last season, is looking for its first singles or doubles title since 2011 when the Vikings won three titles.

The top records on the team belong to Hannah Geoffrey, who went 8-6 at No. 2 singles, and Melissa Heeren, who was 9-7 while playing anywhere from No. 4 to No. 6.

The top doubles mark on the squad belongs to Polly Dalton and Gayatri Malhotra, who were 8-7 at No. 2. Geoffrey and Ali Heiring were next with a 7-9 mark at No. 1.

Editor’s Note: Inside LU Athletics is a notes package written by Lawrence University Director of Athletic Media Relations Joe Vanden Acker. It will feature teams and individual players, recap weekly awards or highlights and take a look at what’s ahead for the Vikings.

St. Norbert shuts out Vikings

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The St. Norbert College women’s tennis team shut out Lawrence University 9-0 on Sunday in a Midwest Conference North Division match at Western Racquet Club.

Lawrence finished the regular season with a mark of 7-9 and finished 1-3 in Midwest Conference North Division play.

St. Norbert College 9, Lawrence University 0

 Singles competition
1. Nancy Chybowski (SNC) def. Gayatri Malhotra (LU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)
2. Erika Chitko (SNC) def. Hannah Geoffrey (LU) 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7)
3. Elizabeth Manlick (SNC) def. Ali Heiring (LU) 6-0, 6-2
4. Katherine Ake (SNC) def. Kathleen Frankel (LU) 6-4, 6-1
5. Ariel Bloniarz (SNC) def. Polly Dalton (LU) 6-0, 6-1
6. Brittany Dudzik (SNC) def. Melissa Heeren (LU) 6-1, 6-2

 Doubles competition
1. Nancy Chybowski/Erika Chitko (SNC) def. Hannah Geoffrey/Ali Heiring (LU) 8-6
2. Ashley Randazzo/Elizabeth Manlick (SNC) def. Gayatri Malhotra/Polly Dalton (LU) 8-6
3. Katherine Ake/Maggie Berens (SNC) def. Kathleen Frankel/Allison Juda (LU) 8-0

Match Notes:
Lawrence University 7-9, 1-3 MWC North
St. Norbert College 14-1, 4-0 MWC North