MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Northwestern women's tennis team won their second consecutive Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday afternoon with a 5-0 win over the University of Wisconsin-Superior. The championship is the fifth conference tournament title in program history. It's also the second UMAC title earned this year for the Eagles as UNW won the regular season championship with their undefeated 8-0 conference record. With the win, Northwestern extended their incredible win streak to 20 consecutive games.
The road to the title started in doubles, where
Elise Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) and
Analise Marquardt (Parkers Prairie, Minn./Parkers Prairie) earned the first points of the day for the Eagles with an 8-4 win in the #3 match.
Taylar Smith (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield) and
Elli Dodge (Wahpeton, N.D./Wahpeton) followed with an 8-5 win at #2 doubles. The top duo of
Annie Orvis (Rochester, Minn/Schaeffer Academy) and
Belinda Weddle (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) completed a doubles sweep for UNW with an 8-6 win at the #1 match.
Up 3-0, Northwestern needed to win just two of the remaining six matches to clinch the tournament title. Jarchow brought the Eagles closer to victory with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep in her #5 match.
The decisive fifth team point would be won by Dodge as the sophomore won her #3 singles match 6-1, 6-0 to complete a 5-0 team win for Northwestern. After Elli and her opponent shook hands, hugged, and prayed together, Dodge was swarmed by elated teammates as the Eagles celebrated their championship win together.
The back-to-back conference tournament champion Eagles will now turn their sights to the NCAA Championships. The Eagles will find out on Monday where they will be headed to compete in the national postseason tournament.
