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Scots to Mix and Match for Midwest Conference Tournament

Monmouth, IL (10/16/2019) — Monmouth College coach Brian Jordan remained flexible this week as his team prepared for the Midwest Conference Women's Tennis Singles and Doubles Championships, which will be played Saturday and Sunday at the Neilson Tennis Center in Madison, Wis.

Short Alison Bowman - the regular player at No. 5 singles and one half of the record-setting No. 2 doubles team with Rachael Leifheit - Jordan will have to improvise in an effort to replace one of his key pieces this fall. Bowman will attend a family wedding.

"We're going through our last practices making the adjustments for the weekend," reported Jordan. "We'll slide Emily Laughlin into the No. 2 doubles spot with Rachael. Emily has experience at No. 2 doubles, but it's been with Alison while Rachael was coming back from an injury. Emily isn't quite as comfortable at the net as Alison, but she's getting more comfortable and she's got a better baseline game with more power. Rachael and Emily have been doing some doubles drills this week and we're sure they'll be ready to have a good tournament."

Laughlin's move up the doubles lineup also impacts the No. 3 pairing where Isabel Hammond and Emily Henson will partner. The duo has paired four times this season and will have that experience going for them. The Scots' most experienced tandem - Emma Johanns and McKenzie DeVilder - will hold down the No. 1 position.

"Hammond and Henson are comfortable together in doubles," reported Jordan. "We think they can win a match or two. Johanns and DeVilder are in a good spot at No. 1. They've been playing their best tennis at the end of the season."

Bowman's absence will make for a minor lineup change at the bottom of the singles order where Hammond will move up from No. 6 to fill the vacated No. 5 slot. The freshman has experience playing up in the order, doing so four times this season. The move opens the way for Henson to fill in at No. 6, where she's posted a 3-4 record.

The rest of the singles order stays intact with Johanns at No. 1, DeVilder at No. 2, Leifheit at No. 3 and Laughlin - with a team-best six singles wins - at No. 4. Jordan has no illusions of his young team taking a title - although he wouldn't turn it down. He's taking a step-by-step realistic approach to the postseason with the thought of building on his team that includes seven underclassmen.

"We want to win our first match of the tournament at all positions," said Jordan. "If everyone can do that and we come out of there at .500, it will be a good showing for us. If we drop that first match, we want to make a deep run in the backdraw. Either Johanns or Laughlin probably has our best shot in singles. Johanns has been playing well and just needs a favorable draw. I feel our No. 2 doubles team probably has the best chance to make a run, even though this will be their first time playing together. They should get the best seed and that could get them to the semifinals. The bottom line is we want to give it a good effort, see what we can do and make some noise."

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