ELSAH, Ill. - Webster University closed out its women's tennis regular season here Saturday by splitting its final two matches against Principia College and Blackburn College at the Hexberg Tennis Courts on the Principia College campus.

The Gorloks opened the day with a hard-fought 5-4 setback to Principia, before earning an 8-1 win in its final regular season match against Blackburn.

With the split, Webster concludes the regular season with a 5-8 overall record and a 3-2 mark in the league and in the process, earns the No. 3 seed in next weekend's SLIAC Tournament held at Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park.

In its match against Principia (6-12 overall, 3-1 SLIAC), the Gorloks jumped in front 2-1 after picking up wins in doubles at both the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in the line-up. Principia's only point in doubles came at the No. 1 spot as Paige Cooley and Gabby Kitchingman posted an 8-3 win over Webster's No. 1 duo of seniors Sara Rice (Mahomet, Ill./Mahomet-Seymour) and Madison Watts (Rogersville, Mo./Logan Rogersville). 

At No. 2 doubles, sophomore Maggie Federhofer (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) and freshman Emma Ferguson (Troy, Mo./Troy Buchanan) won their second straight match and improved to 2-1 on the season as they posted an 8-6 win over Greer Sprague and Hallie Jones. 

Freshmen Navone Armstrong (St. Louis, Mo./McCluer North) and Addie Struckman (O'Fallon, Mo./Francis Howell) won 8-4 at No. 3 doubles over Dani Lomascolo and Sarah Switzer. 

Meanwhile, in singles action, Principia won four of the six singles matches to pull out the 5-4 match win.

In singles action, Webster picked up wins at No. 2 by Watts and at No. 5 by Armstrong. At No. 2 singles, Watts won 6-3, 6-0 over Kitchingman and Armstrong won 7-6 (8-6), 6-0 at No. 5 singles over Lomascolo. 

The Panthers won at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 singles and sealed the match win with Swtizer's straight set win at No. 6 singles over Struckman. Switzer opened by winning 6-4 in the first set, before winning all six games and posting a 6-0 win in the second set to seal the Panthers match victory to remain in second place in the league standings.

Meanwhile, in the match against Blackburn, the Gorloks won all six of the singles matches and two of the doubles matches against the Beavers. 

In doubles, Rice and Watts won at the No. 1 spot over Gariel Pierce and Erica Bechtold, 8-1 to improve to 5-2 on the season, while Federhofer and Ferguson won their third straight match at No. 2 doubles as they defeated Rachel Byle and Morgan Zobrist, 8-5.

The Beavers lone win came at No. 3 singles as Asia Coleman and Anicca Mackay-Slavin outlasted WU's tandem of Armstrong and Struckman, 8-4. 

Meanwhile, in singles action, Webster won five of its six singles matches in straight sets, including Federhofer, who is the reigning SLIAC Women's Tennis Player of the Week, earning a 6-0, 6-0 win over Blye at the No. 3 spot. 

Webster only match that didn't finish in straight sets came at the No. 1 spot as Rice won in three sets over Pierce. Rice opened the match with a 6-1 win, before Pierce picked up a 7-6 (7-2) win in the second set to force a third set. The third set belonged to Rice as she won 6-1 to improve her record to 5-7 in singles on the season.

Watts closed out the regular season by going undefeated in singles play at the No. 2 spot as she won 6-1, 6-2 over Bechtold to move her singles record to 6-0 on the year, while Armstrong closed the regular season by winning three consecutive singles matches as she defeated Blackburn's Mackay-Slavin, 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 5 spot. 

The Gorloks will return to action on Friday, April 19 as they open up play in the SLIAC Championships against the No. 6 Fontbonne University at 11 a.m. The winner will advance to the semifinals to face No. 2 seeded Principia College on Friday, April 19 at 2 p.m.