Madison West tennis coach Peter Dermody summed up junior Rachel Margolies' play in two words Friday night.

"She's back," he said after watching her breeze to the No. 1 singles title at the Big Eight Conference Tournament.

Margolies dropped only two games and helped the Regents (43 points) narrowly beat out Middleton (41) for the team title at Nielsen Tennis Stadium. Madison East was third (33).

"This is really special for us," Dermody said. "We set a few goals at the beginning of the season and one of them was to win the conference tournament."

Margolies was never challenged, defeating Purgolders senior Mara Weiner 6-1, 6-0 in the final to win her second conference title in three years.

"I was just having a lot of fun out there," said Margolies, who developed a stress fracture in her foot two weeks before the season began. "I'm just really happy to be on the court again."

Margolies returned to the court two weeks ago. She had played only three matches before Friday.

"I worked really hard to come back from my injury because I just wanted to play again," she said. "I thought I might miss the whole season, so that makes today even more special."

Dermody said she's already playing at the top of her game.

"Once she got through the tentativeness, she's been fine," he said. "She hit the ball beautifully today. What else can you really say about her?"

The Regents' singles players carried the day. Along with Margolies, freshman Samantha Nagin and senior Lauren Pedracine won conference championships. Junior Allie Dyer settled for second, dropping a 6-2, 6-3 decision to Madison East freshman Jessie Rodgers.

"We knew that our singles play was going to be our strength," Dermody said. "Doubles is Middleton's strength, but luckily we got just enough points to win."

No. 1 doubles team Olivia Foley, a senior, and Bianca Bellissimo, a freshman, led Middleton, which was the Big Eight regular-season co-champion with Verona.

The duo beat Madison Memorial's Jiwon Jun and Melanie Ulrich in the final 6-2, 6-2.

"It's really special for me since this is my first year with the team," Bellissimo said.

Last year, Foley won a championship at No. 2 doubles.

Team scores: Madison West 43, Middleton 41, Madison East 33, Verona 24, Madison Memorial 13.5, Madison LaFollete 10.5, Janesville Craig 7.5, Janesville Parker 4.5, Sun Prairie 1.5, Beloit Memorial 0.

Singles

No. 1: Championship: Margolies, MW, def. Weiner, ME, 6-1, 6-0. Third place: Horner, M, def. Kasten, V, 7-5, 6-0.

No. 2: Championship: Nagin, MW, def. Schaefer, ME, 6-2, 7-6 (1). Third place: Nelson, M, def. Shen, MM, 6-2, 6-2.

No. 3: Championship: Rodgers, ME, def. Dyer, MW, 6-2, 6-3. Third place: DeMario, V, def. Nelson, ML, 6-3, 6-3.

No. 4: Championship: Pedracine, MW, def. Black, M, 6-0, 6-0. Third place: Wolf, V, def. Thiel, 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Doubles

No. 1: Championship: Foley-Bellissimo, M, def. Jun-Ulrich, 6-2, 6-2. Third place: Koenig-Wessel, MW, def. Smith-Storbakken, JC, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

No. 2: Championship: Meyer-Stone, M, def. Brose-Christian, V, 6-4, 7-5. Third place: Young-Mitchell, ME, def. Kuhn-Rosenstock, MW, 6-3, 6-1.

No. 3: Championship: Schwartz-Ryan, M, def. Bulgarelli-Dornbusch, MW, 6-0, 6-4. Third place: Wilson-Baxter, V, def. Kyle-Schaefer, ME, 6-4, 6-4.