WEBSTER GROVES - Thanks to a 5-0 perfect record during the regular season campaign, Webster University enters this coming weekend's St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Tournament as the favorite to take home the championship trophy on Saturday afternoon at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center at Forest Park in St. Louis, Mo.

The Gorloks earned the No. 1 seed in this year's tournament, which gets underway with two first round matches at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 27. Webster will open play in the tournament at 2 p.m. in the semifinals as they will face the winner of the match between the No. 4 seed Principia (4-7, 2-3 SLIAC) and No. 5 seed Fontbonne (1-9, 1-4 SLIAC) that is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday. The other first round match features No. 3 seed Greenville (6-6, 3-2 SLIAC) meeting No. 6 seed Blackburn (1-10, 0-5 SLIAC) at 11 a.m. on Friday. The winner of that match will meet Westminster on Friday in the semifinals at 2 p.m.

Along with going 5-0 in the SLIAC, the Gorloks enter the SLIAC Tournament sporting a 10-5 overall record and have won two straight and four of its last five matches overall to close the regular season with the only setback being a 9-0 loss on April 13 against Wheaton (Ill.) College in Hanover Park, Ill. 

During SLIAC play, the Gorloks dominated the league as they won three of their five matches by 9-0 scores, while also picking up an 8-1 win over Greenville and earning a 6-3 victory at Westminster (Mo.). College, who is the tournament's No. 2 seed. 

Last season, Webster, who went 11-9 overall and 4-1 in the SLIAC, was the tournament runner-up for the second consecutive season as they fell 5-0 in the championship match to Principia. Webster opened the tournament with a 5-0 win over Fontbonne. 
 

This year's 10 wins marks the fourth consecutive season that Webster has won 10 or more matches in a season and it is the sixth time since 2009 that the Gorloks have won the regular season and earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament and in those five previous time, Webster has won the SLIAC Tournament three times (2010, 2012 and 2015). In 2009 and 2016, the Gorloks placed second in the tournament after being the No. 1 seed. 

On the season, Webster has had three players post double-digit wins in singles, led by senior Monica Behrle (Atlanta, Ga./East Paulding), who is sporting a 16-5 mark in singles, including a 12-3 record at the No. 1 spot and she went 5-0 in singles play during the SLIAC regular season. Behrle, who is the career leader in both singles and doubles wins in Webster history, enters the postseason having won two straight matches and is 7-3 in her last 10. In addition to Behrle, junior Sara Rice (Mahomet, Ill./Mahomet-Seymour) posted an 11-4 record in singles, including going 10-1 at the No. 4 spot in the line-up. Like Behrle, Rice went 5-0 in SLIAC matches and has won two straight and 7 of her last 10 overall, while senior Jesse Steffens-Willis (St. Louis, Mo./Rockwood Summit) posted a 10-6 record in singles, including a 9-3 mark at the No. 3 spot and was 5-0 in SLIAC play. Steffens-Willis has won four straight matches and is 9-1 in her last 10 outings. 
 

Meanwhile, in double action, the Gorloks No. 1 team of Behrle and junior Madison Watts (Rogersville, Mo./Logan Rogersville) went 13-5 in doubles, including going 11-3 at the No. 1 spot and was 5-0 in doubles during SLIAC play. The tandem has combined to post a 20-12 record the past two seasons in doubles, including a 9-1 mark in SLIAC matches. Two other doubles teams went undefeated in SLIAC play as Rice partnered with freshman Maggie Federhofer (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) to go 3-0 at the No. 2 spot in SLIAC play and they are 4-2 overall on the season at that spot in the line-up, while Steffens-Willis and senior Robin Bolme (Smyrna, Tenn./Blackman) went 2-0 at the No. 3 spot during SLIAC play. 

Webster, who is coached by Martha Davis-Goldstein, has posted a 14-7 record record in the SLIAC Tournament since 2008, including winning the championship three times (2010, 2012, and 2015) and finishing a runners-up in 2009, 2013, 2016 and 2017. 

Davis-Goldstein is in her fifth season at the held of the Gorloks women's tennis program and has posted a 56-41 record and was named the SLIAC Coach of the Year in 2015. Her 56 wins are second most all-time in school history as current men's tennis and men's soccer head coach Mike Siener posted an 84-26-1 record as the women's tennis coach from 2006-13. 

Principia College has won two consecutive and 20 all-time SLIAC Women's Tennis Championships, while Westminster is next on the list as they have won four titles with its most recent title coming in 2009. In fact, only Principia, Westminster and Webster are the only schools to have won SLIAC titles in women's tennis.