Webster Holds On For SLIAC Title
The Webster University women's tennis team held on for a 5-3 win over Principia College in the 2015 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship match. For Webster it is the program's third SLIAC Women's Tennis Tournament title and their first since the 2012 season.
Webster swept doubles play, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead. In a preview of the entire match between the two teams, the doubles action was up for grabs. Webster had two tiebreaker wins in doubles with the #1 team of Marissa Lewis and Kaylen Kress and the #3 team of Stephanie Lass and Chelsea Foster picking up 9-8 wins. The Gorloks picked up the sweep when the #2 team of Monica Behrle and Jesse Steffens-Willis came back from a 4-1 deficit to win 8-5.
The Gorloks Behrle chased shots down all over the court and picked up a 6-1, 6-1 win at #2 singles. Behrle's win gave Webster a 4-0 lead in the match however Principia fought their way back to make things interesting. Hanne Anderson won the battle at #1 singles 6-3, 6-2 to get the Panthers on the board. The Panthers picked up a second win at #5 singles when Lena Carlson won 6-1 and 6-1. The match gained further interest when Claire Horton, using long strokes to the baseline, was able to pull ahead for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win.
The championship match came down to the final two spots remaining on the court, #3 singles and #6 singles. It was the #3 singles action of Kaylen Kress that would secure the victory for the Gorloks. Kress outlasted her foe for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win that locked up the Webster victory.
In other action on the day Greenville College took third place with a 6-3 win over Westminster
College. The Panthers grabbed a 3-0 lead by sweeping the doubles play. After edging past her opponent at #1 singles in the opening set 7-6, Greenville's Lexi Baysinger breezed to a 6-0 win in the second set for a win. The Panthers Leslie Blaser Friedline used an arsenal full of looping shots to outlast her foe at #2 singles while Emily Rauch picked up the sixth win for Greenville at #5 singles, winning 6-4 and 6-1.
Blackburn College defeated Fontbonne University 5-0 in the fifth place match.