Chicago, Ill. - Heading into their final conference match of the season, the Illinois Tech women's tennis team was looking for victory to help their cause for qualifying for the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) post-season tournament in the spring. Instead, it was St. Norbert who claimed the match victory, edging out the Scarlet Hawks 5-4 Saturday afternoon at the XS Tennis Center. With the loss, the Hawks have been eliminated from post-season contention, falling to 3-6 in conference play, and 3-8 overall. The loss turned out to be Illinois Tech's third 5-4 loss in conference play, something that will be looked back on as the difference in qualifying versus not qualifying for post-season play. The Green Knights improved to 4-4 in NACC play and 5-7 overall, while holding on to the fifth spot in the league standings. The top six teams qualify for the post-season.

Playing outdoors at their home court for the first time this season, the Scarlet Hawks put up a hard-fought battle to the end, with three singles matches being extended to three sets, with the Hawks taking two of those. But it was Illinois Tech losing the doubles matches 2-1 that ultimately gave the Green Knights the edge they needed to carry that over into singles play.

Doubles Play (St. Norbert 2 - Illinois Tech 1)
The Scarlet Hawks jumped out to leads in all three doubles matches, but the Green Knights were able to come back in two of those matches to claim a 2-1 advantage after doubles play. The Scarlet Hawks number one doubles pairing of Hannah Markiewicz and Sofia Zaballa Martinez defeated St. Norbert's Hannah Starr and Mayghan Bongle 8-5. The Scarlet Hawks number two doubles tandem of Paige Geiger and Maria Moran Miranda held a 6-5 advantage in their match, but the Green Knights pair of Grace Peters and Anna Vechart came back to win the match 8-6. In doubles match number three, a 4-3 advantage for Ashley Dame and Rhea Karumuru was erased when St. Norbert's pair of Paige Diercks and Grace McCune came back to win 8-5.

Singles Play (St. Norbert 3 - Illinois Tech 3)
Illinois Tech got on the board first in singles play, with Zaballa Martinez winning her number two singles match against SNC's Diercks 6-0, 6-0, to tie the match at 2-2. But St. Norbert's Irene Multhauf defeated Illinois Tech's Karumuru 7-5, 6-3 in the number six singles match to allow the Green Knights to go back in front, 3-2. The Green Knights followed that up with a win in singles number three, as SNC's Peters defeated Illinois Tech's Geiger 7-5, 6-4 to move within one win of match victory, with a 4-2 lead. That's when the three-set matches came into play. Closing first was the number four singles match of Illinois Tech's Dame versus St. Norbert's Bongle, with Dame dropping a close first set 6-4 before coming back to take the next two sets 6-2, 6-1 and move the Scarlet Hawks within one match, trailing 4-3. That set up the final two remaining matches to determine the outcome. In singles one play, Illinois Tech's Markiewicz and SNC's Starr split the first two sets 4-6, 6-4, before Starr pulled away in set three 6-2. That gave the Green Knights the fifth win they needed to claim match victory. Illinois Tech did wind up winning the final match, singles number five, with Moran Miranda defeating SNC's Vechart 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

Up Next
This concludes the fall portion of the Scarlet Hawks schedule. Although they did not make the cut for the spring conference tournament, they do have two dual matches scheduled in late winter/early spring, and potentially adding additional matches during spring break.