The 2012 Women's Tennis season comes to an end with 5-0 loss to No. 7 Washington & Lee

By: Monique Bowman

ATLANTA, Ga. - The Polar Bear women's tennis season came to a close Saturday afternoon following a 5-0 loss to Washington & Lee (Va.) in the second round of the NCAA Division III Championships, hosted by Emory (Ga.).

Ohio Northern's season finishes at 23-5 overall, which includes a 16-1 record that spanned from March 24 to this weekend.

The Generals, ranked seventh in the country, move on with their 21-5 record to take on host No. 5 Emory in the third round on Sunday.

The match had been pushed back from a late morning start to 12:45 p.m. due to rain. W&L's Sonja Meighan and Meghan Buell started off with an 8-0 win at No. 3 doubles over ONU sophomores Lauren Rife and Carly Olmstead.

No. 2 doubles finished next with a win for Patricia Kirkland and Cameron Dorsey over freshmen Brittany Miller and Kristin Cellentani. Washington & Lee then took a 3-0 lead in the match with an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles.

Lauren Lukas at No. 1 singles and Buell at No. 3 singles closed out the match with 6-0, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-1 wins, respectively.

This season was one for the history books for the Polar Bears, as the team's NCAA appearance was just the second in the program's history and Friday's first-round win was the program's first.

Northern also earned both the Regular Season and Tournament titles this season.