Sam Curry
currysam@grinnell.edu

The men’s and women’s tennis teams put on impressive performances last weekend, each taking home a Midwest Conference Championship title. The men’s victory gave them their 13th consecutive conference title, while the women’s team won their 10th title in 12 years.

In the semifinals, the men defeated Lawrence University 5–0 before coming back a few hours later in the final to beat Lake Forest College by the same score.

“We set the tone with great doubles. The other teams did not have a chance,” said head coach Andy Hamilton ’85. “Cole [Miller ’17] and CJ [Ray ’16], Tracy Johnson [’16] and Tommy Pitcher [’17] have all played doubles in big moments, and you can’t put a price tag on experience.”

Meanwhile, the women took down St. Norbert College 5–2 in the semifinals and then ousted Lake Forest 5–0 in the final. The win against Lake Forest was especially satisfying, as Grinnell had lost to them 5–4 earlier in the year.

“Lake Forest and St. Norbert were really, really strong teams, and I think they offered a lot of growing opportunity for us, so it was nice to play them again after we had both taken breaks and played our whole season,” said Julia Rumley ’16.

With their convincing victories in the conference finals, the men’s and women’s teams will now move on to Nationals next weekend. For the young women’s team, whose doubles pairs are composed of three first-years, two second-years and a fourth-year, this next stage of the season will be a chance to see exactly how good they can be in the future.

“The goal is to understand what our potential is now at the regional level,” Hamilton said. “I’m hoping that our young players will have a realization about how good we are and what kind of future we have.”

For Rumley, the competition at Conference, combined with her own impending graduation, makes her think back nostalgically to her first year on the team.

“We had a similar experience my first year when we were able to go to Nationals and face Carleton,” Rumley said. “The thrill of that competition was very evident again last weekend.”

Although the women’s depth, particularly in their double pairs, was an integral part of their victories, Hamilton picked out a few performers from the senior class who proved their quality once again.

“Julia Rumley hit some fantastic shots in the semifinal match against St. Norbert, which gave us the No. 3 doubles victory, which really gave us the team victory,” Hamilton said. “Minna Montgomery’s [’16] game is just so hard for people to handle. When we put out our lineup we are so confident that she is going to win.”

The men and the women will both travel next week to an undetermined location to play in their respective NCAA Regional Tournament. This is part of the bracket for the NCAA National Tournament, which will be held in Kalamazoo, Mich.