LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Cornell women's tennis team opened Midwest Conference play Saturday afternoon in a rematch of last years semi-final, falling 5-2 at #47 Lake Forest College.
Cornell's No. 1 doubles team of Michaela Clark and Mac Graves cruised to a 6-2 victory over Sofia Strupovets and Lilli Dockal. At No. 3 doubles, Tansy Graves and Jenna Benkufsky also earned a 6-2 win, defeating Avelynn Wen and Anika Kinnear. Lake Forest claimed the No. 2 doubles match in a tiebreaker, with Anya Mookencherry and Bebe Phramthong edging Annika Dox and Emmie Kinder, 7-6 (8-6).
Clark added another point for the Rams at No. 1 singles, battling past Strupovets in a three-set thriller. After dropping the second set in a tiebreaker, Clark prevailed 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (8-6).
Lake Forest, however, won the remaining five singles matches to take the dual. Dockal defeated Graves 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2, while Mookencherry posted a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Kinder at No. 3.
At No. 4, Phramthong rallied past Tansy Graves, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Wen followed with a 4-6, 7-6 (11-9), 6-4 win over Dox at No. 5, and Kate Feist completed the team victory with a 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 comeback against Benkufsky at No. 6.
The loss moves Cornell to 4-2 overall and 0-1 in MWC play, while Lake Forest improves to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in conference competition.
Coming up: Cornell continues their road trip in conference play at Lawrence University of Sunday morning at 10am.
