Tennis Splits With Webster on Saturday

Women win 7-0, Men fall 4-3

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (03/01/2026) — The Monmouth College men's and women;s tennis teams split with Webster on Saturday at Lakeside Center in Galesburg. The women (1-11) picked up their first win of the season with a 7-0 victory while the men (1-6) fell 4-3.

MEN

The men picked up a singles win from Chase Sims (Tiskilwa) at No. 5 as he won 6-0, 6-0. Sims is now 3-0 on the season. Monmouth also got a singles win at No. 6 since Webster only brought five players and forfeited.

The Scots won the doubles point as they got a forfeit at No. 3 and picked up a win at No. 2. Macaden Sepich (Mackinaw, Illinois) and Caden De Jong (Freeport, Illinois) rallied from a 5-2 deficit to win 7-6 with a 7-5 win in the tiebreaker.

"The men lost to Webster 7-0 last year so it is nice to see the improvement as they figure out how to construct points and the benefits of their agility work," said head coach Brian Dahlstrom. "The depth has really increased our ability to compete."

The men are next in action when they start Midwest Conference play at Lake Forest on April 4.

WOMEN

The women returned to the court for the first time since October and picked up their first win of the 2025-26 season. Ivana Stefanova (Streamwood, Illinois) won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 and Natlie Labicki (Antioch, Illinois) won 6-0, 6-3 at No. 2. They teamed up to win 6-2 at No. 1 doubles.

Webster also only brought five women's players so Monmouth won the doubles point with a forfeit at No. 3 doubles. Kimber Calvert (Paris, Illinois) won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3 singles and Natalie Holst (Rock Island, Illinois) won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4. Fresh off the basketball court, Tiah Riggs (Vincennes, Indiana) won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5 singles and the Scots got a forfeit win at No. 6.

"Natalie and Ivana dictated their matches to secure the meet win," said Dahlstrom.

The women are scheduled to conclude their season at Principia on March 21.