The UNI women’s tennis team partook in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament this past weekend in Springfield, Mo. Following a tough regular season in which they finished 2-13, the Panther women earned the No. 7 seed in the conference tournament and were matched up with Stony Brook University, who was the second-seeded team. They were defeated 4-0.

The No. 1 doubles tandem of Emma Carr and Olivia Fain were defeated 6-1 by Stony Brook’s Sasha Bekirova and Jaimie Wei and the No. 3 doubles tandem of Madeline Doherty and Issa Sullivan fell 6-1 to Lizzie Pam and Loreto Rubio. Thaissa Moreira and Valentina Caro held a slight lead of 3-2 for UNI before their match was left unfinished following the results of the other two doubles matches.

Three of the singles matches were left unfinished as the other contests were decided. UNI’s Emma Carr and Stony Brook’s Wei were in a close match on the No. 1 court before it was left unfinished. The Panthers were defeated on the No. 2, 3 and 5 courts as Doherty, Moreira and Fain all fell to their respective opponents.

The loss in the conference tournament eliminates the Panthers from postseason play and thus will end their 2021 season. The Panther women will graduate four seniors from this year’s squad and will return to action next spring for the 2022 tennis season.