Contact: Jenna McElroy, Sports Info & Social Media Intern, mcelroy@midwestconference.org
 
GRINNELL, Iowa - The 2018 Midwest Conference (MWC) Women’s Tennis Singles Tournament starts at 8:00 a.m. this Sunday at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Grinnell College and Lake Forest College split the number one seeds with the Pioneers holding the top spot at the odd numbered and the Foresters claiming the even numbered. Three 2017 MWC Singles Tournament champions return while four of last year’s runner-ups are back.

Tournament Page
 
No. 1 Singles
 
In 2017, Grinnell’s Abby Nielsen won the No. 4 singles title but this season she moved all the way up to the top of the Pioneer lineup. Nielsen led the conference with a perfect 11-0 record in dual matches and 9-0 in conference play to earn the top seed for the MWC Tournament. Lake Forest’s Julie Lord returns as the two seed after making it to the title match last season before falling in three-sets to Grinnell’s top player.
 
Raquel Ruiz of Cornell was a semifinalist at the No. 3 flight last year and moves up to the No. 1 flight this year. Ruiz is the third seed and will face tough competition in her first match against the sixth seed Bhumika Gupta of Knox College. Another returnee earned the fourth seed as St. Norbert College’s Meg Witt, 2017 runner-up at No. 2 singles, finished the 2018 conference season with a 6-3 record and will take on Ripon College first-year Brianna Bembenek.
 
No. 2 Singles
 
Last year’s winner at No. 2 singles, Forester Allison Watts, returns to defend her title after a perfect 9-0 conference season earned her the top seed. Rams’ first-year Cami Gricius looks to have something to say about it as she enters with an 8-1 record. Gricius’ one loss came against Watts and she’ll hope to reverse that result in the MWC Tournament on Sunday.
 
Fellow first-year Emma Gaydos of Grinnell earned the third seed with a 7-2 record and will take on Knox’s Himani Patel. St. Norbert’s Claire Hetzel is the fourth seed after finishing as the consolation champion at No. 4 singles in 2017. Hetzel will face off against Sally Hixson of Illinois College.
 
No. 3 Singles
 
Grinnell’s Isabel Green had a successful first-year as she went undefeated at No. 3 singles in conference play to earn the top seed in the MWC Tournament. Green will face the winner of the eight-nine matchup between Beloit College’s Bailey Ekstrand and Monmouth College’s Haley Johnston. Ekstrand came out on top during the regular season as she defeated Johnston 6-4, 7-5.
 
Two seed Abbey Nelson of Cornell posted a 7-1 conference record with her lone loss being to Green. After making the semifinals at No. 2 singles last year, Nelson opens this year’s tournament against the 2017 No. 5 singles champion Kalissa Goertz of Illinois College. A pair of 2017 runner-ups earned the third and fourth seeds as Forester Leeza Bodnar looks to take the title after finishing second at No. 3 singles in 2017 and St. Norbert’s Sofie Koppmann moves up three positions after finishing a runner-up finish at No. 6 singles last season.
 
No. 4 Singles
 
In her first MWC Individual Tournament, Emma Wang earned a No. 1 seed thanks to a perfect 8-0 conference record. Wang will face tough competition as two-time MWC Singles Champion Lily Hamilton of Grinnell is the two seed. Hamilton has won at the No. 5 and No. 6 flights the last two season and the senior looks to add a title at the No. 4 position.
 
Another first-year, Hannah Swajanen of St. Norbert, is the third seed and will face off against six seed Emma Hahn of Beloit. A pair of juniors competing in their first MWC Singles Tournament will face off when fourth seed Megan Pope of Cornell meets Rachel Leifheit of Monmouth.
 
No. 5 Singles
 
Pioneer Brenda Guan is the top seed at No. 5 singles after she went undefeated in conference play at the position. If Guan meets the second-seeded Tyranny Miller of Lake Forest in the title match prepare for an entertaining battle as the two played tight three-set regular season match that Guan won 7-5, 1-6, 11-9.
 
It’s the year of first-years as Green Knight freshman Nicole Pfotenhauer earned the third seed and the Rams’ Emmaline Fievet earned the fourth seed. Fievet’s first MWC Tournament game will be a rematch of her final regular season match that she rallied to win 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 over Monmouth’s Natalie Curtis. Curtis claimed the fifth seed after finishing as the consolation champion at No. 6 singles in 2017.
 
No. 6 Singles
 
At the sixth and final position, Lake Forest first-year Katie Wegrecki posted a 5-0 conference record to earn the top seed for the MWC Tournament. Fellow first-year Sara Amano of Grinnell is the third seed, while Cornell senior Janice Elkerton is the second seed and looks to advance to the championship match after reaching the semifinals in 2017.
 
Another first-year, the fourth-seeded Hannah Keller of St. Norbert, faces the fifth-seeded junior Katelyn Peroutka of Ripon College. The two met during the final weekend of the regular season with Keller picking up a 7-6, 6-3 victory.
 
The full brackets for all three doubles fields can be found at the tournament page.