Tennis Drops Home Finale, 5-4 to IWU

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill (10/04/2023) — The Monmouth College women's team dropped the fall home finale 5-4 to Illinois Wesleyan on Tuesday afternoon.

Kathi Ramsenthaler (Linz, Austria) and Natalie Labicki (Antioch, Illinois) fell 8-3 at No. 1 doubles. Ivana Stefanova (Streamwood, Illinois) and Jennifer Shimmin (Monmouth, Illinois) won 8-q at No. 2 doubles while Kimber Calvert (Paris, Illinois) and Julia Mheidze (Springfield, Illinois) fell at No. 3 doubles 8-1.

"At the end of the day the majority of our schedule comes down to winning the meet if we can take two of the three doubles matches," said head coach Brian Dahlstrom. "The last four matches have been 5-4 one way or the other and we've had some matchups that were in our favor and a few that were challenging to get the win.

IWU took a 2-1 lead into singles and Stefanova lost for the first time this season in singles. She fell 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 while Ramsenthaler won at No. 2 singles 6-0, 6-1, Labicki won 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 singles but IWU clinched the match as Calvert lost 7-6 (5), 6-0 at No. 4 singles, Shimmin won 6-3, 6-1 at No. 5 and Mheidze lost 6-0, 6-2 at No. 6.

"We are thrilled that Ivana won the MWC player of the week award today and I'm very happy for Jennfier to get the double win today," said Dahlstrom. "We continue to build toward our conference tournament in the middle of October.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Stefanova was named MWC Performer of the Week on Tuesday after going 2-0 last week. She is now 10-1 in both singles and doubles with 20 total wins. Ramsenthaler is 9-2 in both singles and doubles on the season. The 20 total wins for Stefanova are tied for eighth in a single-season for Monmouth and Ramsenthaler's 18 total wins is tied for 10th. Mheidze was honored pregame for Senior Day. The Scots conclude their regular season on Saturday with a 9 a.m. match at Lake Forest..