Fond du Lac, Wis. – On Saturday, October 12th the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks women's tennis team traveled to take on the Marian University Sabres in their final Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) regular season match of 2024. With the goal of making the NACC Women's Tennis Championship tournament, the Hawks wanted to record a win to help secure their spot within the Top 6 teams in the conference, and a win is what they got. The Hawks (4-6, 4-4) went all out, recording a 7-0 sweep over the Muskies (1-9, 1-8), earning their spot in the postseason tournament.  

RESULTS VS MARIAN UNIVERSITY

DOUBLES 

• The duo of Hannah Markiewicz and Martyna Kalinowska secured a 6-1 victory in Double No. 1 

• Paige Geiger and Angelica Conwell took down the No. 2 Doubles with a 6-2 victory 

• At No. 3 Doubles, Ashley Dame and Rhea Karumuru swept their opponent 6-0 

SINGLES 

• Martyna Kalinowska defeated Hazel Duchemin 6-1, 6-1 in No. 1 Singles. The Freshman brought her NACC Singles play record to 7-1 with the victory. All 8 of her matches came at No. 1 singles for the Hawk in her first year 

• Hannah Markiewicz took No. 2 Singles 6-1, 6-0 over Kendall Pliner 

• Paige Geiger defeated Melana Brunton 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 Singles  

• Senior Ashley Dame concluded the conference season with a Singles undefeated streak, going a perfect 8-0 after picking up a 6-1, 6-1 win over Josephine Bruch at No. 4 Singles  

• Angelica Conwell secured No. 5 Singles by defeating Madeline Chimenti 6-1,6-0  

• At no. 6 Singles, Rhea Karumuru recorded the win by defeating Izavella Majsterek 6-1, 6-0. 

POSTSEASON PREVIEW 

With the victory over Marian University and the results from other NACC contests that took place Saturday and Sunday, the Hawks secured the No. 4 seed in the NACC Women's Tennis Tournament with a 5-4 conference record.  

This will mark the Hawks first tournament appearance since winning the whole thing back during the 2021-22 season. After missing the tournament the last two years, the Hawks will look to repeat what they did in 2022 with hopes of winning the conference championship and returning to the NCAA DIII Women's Tennis Tournament.  

Although the women's tennis regular season takes place in the fall, the Hawks will have to wait until April/May to compete in the conference tournament. The First Round of the tournament is scheduled to begin on April 29th, Semifinals on May 2nd, and the Championship on May 4th at SportsCore in Kohler, Wis. (Hosted by Concordia University Wisconsin). The First Round and Semifinals will be hosted by the higher seeds. 

The Hawk will begin tournament play on April 29th against St. Norbert College. 

SEEDING ORDER 

1. Edgewood College (9-0) 

2. MSOE (8-1) 

3. St. Norbert College (7-2) 

4. Illinois Tech (5-4) 

5. Concordia University Wisconsin (5-4) 

6. Wisconsin Lutheran College (5-4) 

HEAD COACH KRIS POWELL'S COMMENTS 

"I think this season went well. We had a lot of close matches that could have gone either way. The funny part about that is we are still learning and getting better. I don't think any team in the NACC can say we aren't a threat. More importantly, we have recreated our culture and identity. No matter what the results are in the spring, we have each other and have forged positive bonds."   

UP NEXT 

The Hawks will have a few months break to regroup before returning to action. They will compete in two non-conference matches before the NACC Women's Tennis Tournament. First, they will take on Calvin University on February 22nd in Grand Rapids, Mich., time to be determined. Then, the Hawks will take on Loras College on March 1st, time and location to be determined.