LAKE BLUFF, Ill. – Flexing its muscle in singles, Augustana defeated Lake Forest 6-3 on Friday, March 28 in a non-conference women's tennis match played at the Racquet Club of Lake Bluff. The Vikings won five of six singles matches and moved their overall record to 17-4 on the season while Lake Forest fell to 17-2.
 
Augustana, currently ranked 17th in NCAA Division III's Central Region, fell behind 2-1 after doubles with only the number two team of senior Kim Sawyer (Batavia HS, Batavia, Ill.) and sophomore Aileen MacDonald (Mundelein HS, Mundelein, Ill.) claiming victory. Sawyer and MacDonald beat Sarah Paulson and Lucy-George Cooper 8-2.
 
The first match completed in singles was at number three where freshman Dana Goggin (Buffalo Grove HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.), the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin's "Player of the Week", beat Grace Dowling 6-2; 6-0 to make the match even at 2-2.
 
Junior Miranda Pence (Oswego HS, Oswego, Ill.) beat Cooper 6-1; 6-2 at number six to give Augustana a 3-2 but the team score was tied at 3-3 after Lake Forest's Lexi Chionis beat MacDonald 6-2; 6-4 at number four. That would be the last defeat suffered by the Vikings as they won the last three singles contests to close out the team victory.
 
Freshman Lauren Goggin (Buffalo Grove HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) beat Christi Valicenti 7-5; 6-1 at number two and then Sawyer, the sixth ranked singled player in the region, defeated Paulson 2-6; 6-3; 6-3 at number one. Senior Emily Kaczmarek (Glenbard South HS, Lombard, Ill.) closed out the win with a 6-2; 7-6 triumph over Elina Shapiro at number five.
 
Augustana will travel to Fayette, Iowa on April 6 to take on NCAA Division II opponent Upper Iowa for its next match.