Contact: Jenna McElroy, Sports Info & Social Media Intern, mcelroy@midwestconference.org
 
GRINNELL, Iowa – The 2018 Midwest Conference (MWC) Women’s Tennis Doubles Tournament starts at 1:00 p.m. this Saturday at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. The tournament favorite will be pairings from Lake Forest College, Grinnell College, and Cornell College. The Foresters hold the top seed at all three flights, while the Pioneers are the second seed at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams and the Rams have the second seed at the No. 1 flight.

Tournament Page
 
No. 1 Doubles
 
Lake Forest finished the regular season a perfect 9-0 at the No. 1 doubles spot to earn the top seed. The 2017 MWC No. 1 Doubles Champion Leeza Bodnar and Julie Lord are back to defend their title after going 7-0 during the season. After finishing second last year, Cornell’s Raquel Ruiz returns with a new partner in first-year Cami Gricius. The pairs one conference loss this season came against Bodnar and Lord.
 
Grinnell also has a new No. 1 pairing for 2018 in Abbey Nielsen and Emma Gaydos. Nielsen took the title at No. 4 singles and No. 2 doubles in 2017 and continued her success at the top of the Pioneer lineup this year as she went undefeated at No. 1 singles and 7-2 at No. 1 doubles with Gaydos. The pair lost two tight 8-6 matches to the one and two seeds in the tournament.
 
St. Norbert College, Ripon College, and Illinois College all finished the regular season with 5-4 records at the No. 1 doubles spot but after tiebreakers, the teams were awarded the four, fifth, and sixth seeds respectively. The Green Knights team of Claire Hetzel and Meg Witt are a new pairing this season. Hetzel won the 2017 title at the No. 3 flight, while Witt lost in the semifinals. The duo beat the Red Hawks team of Hannah Ryback and Samantha Kiesner this season but will face off against the team of Ryback and Brianna Rembenek in the MWC Tournament.
 
Illinois College’s Sally Hixson lost her 2017 partner to graduation but teamed up with first-year Sophia Roth this year to move up three seeds from last year’s tournament to sixth. Hixson and Roth will face a tough test against the third seeded team of Nielsen and Gaydos who shut the Lady Blues out 8-0 in the regular season.
 
No. 2 Doubles
 
Allison Watts and Tyranny Miller are back as the one seed at the No. 2 doubles flight after they were upset by the Grinnell team at the 2017 tournament. The Pioneers are once again the two seed with Brenda Guan and Isabel Green. The championship match should be a close battle if the teams face off for the title for a second straight year as the Foresters edged the Pioneers 8-6 in the regular season.
 
The Rams Abbey Nelson and Janice Elkerton team up this year after falling in the semifinals with different partners in No. 2 and No. 3 doubles respectively last year. The pairs only two losses this season came against the tournament’s top two seeds.
 
Another tiebreaker was needed to determine the fourth and fifth seeds between St. Norbert and Monmouth College. The Green Knights’ Hannah Swajenen and Sofia Koppman claimed the No. 4 spots due to their victory over the Scots’ Rachel Leifheit and Natalie Curtis in the regular season but don’t be surprised if the outcome is flipped in the MWC Tournament as the Scots duo fought to the very end in a 9-7 loss.
 
No. 3 Doubles
 
The one seed at No. 3 doubles is coming off a school record setting regular season. The Foresters Grace Gould and Emma Wang won every match they played this season for a program record 11 straight doubles victories. Gould is the defending No. 5 singles championship and made it to the semifinals with Sara Grosse in 2017.
 
Grinnell senior and 2017 No. 3 doubles runner-up Lily Hamilton returns at the two seed with new partner Sara Amano. Hamilton looks to add a doubles title to two singles crowns in her final season. The Pioneers duo enters the tournament with a 7-1 conference record with their one loss being against the Foresters.
 
A tie occurred for the three seed as both the Rams and the Green Knights finished with a 6-3 conference record at No. 3 doubles. Cornell claimed the three spot due to its 8-4 win over St. Norbert during the regular season. The Rams’ Emmaline Fievet and Megan Pope will face off against the sixth seed Scots pair of Haley Johnston and Lexi Tibbs. Monmouth also earned its seed on a tiebreaker over Ripon as the Scots’ edged out the Red Hawks 8-6 in the regular season.
 
The full brackets for all three doubles fields can be found at the tournament page.