The Fighting Scots women’s tennis team opened their 2021 fall sports season here at Monmouth College on August 28 versus Central College and continued their season into the month of October. Led by Head Coach Brian Jordan, the players were excited to open an official season opposed to the unique spring slate they played last semester after their cancelled regular season. However, women’s tennis was the only Midwest Conference sport from the fall that was allowed an altered spring season. In the spring, now junior Emily Laughlin played No. 2 singles behind now graduated Emma Johanns, and junior Isabelle Hammond was the lone representative on the Midwest Conference All-Conference team after picking up a win in singles against Illinois College. Also returning to the court this fall is junior Emily Henson, the No. 4 singles player in the spring. Also returning from the spring season are senior Isa Perez and sophomore Julia Mheidze, and the Scots added two new players to the roster: Jennifer Shimmin and Maddie Psomas. The Scots opened their Midwest Conference season on September 18 against Lake Forest College. The No. 1 doubles team of Hammond and Henson won two games in their 8 game pro set, while the other two teams fell 8-0. In the singles matches, Laughlin fell 6-2,6-0 in the No. 1 spot. Mheidze won a game in the second set in the No. 4 spot, and both junior Ditza Montesinos and Shimmin both won a game in the first set at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively. The following weekend they headed north again to play both Ripon College and Lawrence University, ending the weekend with losing two matche 0-9 and leaving the team at 0-3 in Midwest Conference play. In the morning, the RedHawks took all three doubles matches, but two singles matches had tie breakers as Mheidze dropped a set of 7-6 at No. 4 and Montesinos did the same at No. 5. In the afternoon, the Scots fell in all doubles matches as well. In No. 1 singles, Laughlin lost 6-3,6-2 in the most competitive singles match of the day. The team will next have their only home matches of the season against Grinnell College and Cornell College on October 9 to end their 2021 regular season matches.
Brooke McCormick - Sports Editor