Chicago, Ill. - Heading into the final weekend of regular season play, the Illinois Tech women's tennis team was looking to improve their position in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) standings when first place Edgewood College came to the XS Tennis Center Friday night in the Scarlet Hawks home finale. Edgewood proved too tough to overcome, however, as the Eagles defeated the hosts 6-1. The Scarlet Hawks fell to 3-4 in NACC play, and 3-6 overall. The Eagles remained undefeated in conference play at 7-0 and moved to 10-1 overall.

Despite the loss, the Scarlet Hawks still control their own destiny as the likely sixth and final seed for the NACC Women's Tennis Championship tournament, to be played in the spring. The Scarlet Hawks currently reside in 6th place in the standings, with a one-game lead on Concordia Chicago (2-5 NACC) with each team having one match remaining this Saturday. The Scarlet Hawks play at 1-7 (NACC) Marian on Saturday morning, while Concordia Chicago hosts Edgewood. The Scarlet Hawks also beat Concordia Chicago head-to-head earlier this season. There is also an outside chance the Scarlet Hawks can move up to the fifth seed with a win on Saturday, based on potential tie-breaker scenarios with Concordia Wisconsin, who the Hawks beat previously as well.

Although the Scarlet Hawks were unable to secure the match victory against Edgewood, senior Ashley Dame was able to extend her conference singles winning streak to seven in a row with a 2-6, 6-4, 1-0(10-8) victory over the Eagles' Madelyn Connaughty. Dame's victory in the number four singles match gave the Hawks their lone match victory in Friday's contest, allowing Dame to remain unbeaten in NACC singles play with a record of 7-0. Dame will have an opportunity to cap off a perfect conference singles record for the 2024 regular season on Saturday during the Scarlet Hawks match at Marian.

The Scarlet Hawks' Martyna Kalinowska saw her conference singles unbeaten streak broken by Edgewood's Evelyn Taylor in a 3-6, 6-1, 2-6 loss in the number one singles competition. Kalinowska, the first-year player from Homer Glenn, Illinois, had started out 6-0 in NACC singles play. Kalinowska will still have a chance to improve her conference singles record to 7-1 in the team's match at Marian Saturday morning.

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks have an early wake-up call, as they travel to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Saturday morning for a 9:30am match with the Sabres (1-7 NACC), in the regular season finale for both teams.