Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
Results
MOLINE, Ill. (Oct. 20, 2018) – The North Central College women's tennis team turned in a fourth-place performance at the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Championships held from Oct. 18-20 at the Quad City Tennis Club, highlighted by just the second individual championship in program history by
Alaina Kanthaphixay at No. 3 singles.
The Cardinals earned 34 total points over the three-day tournament, while Augustana College claimed the team title with 71 points, followed by Wheaton College in second with 51 points and Carthage College narrowly edging out North Central for third with 37 points.
With the fourth-place finish, the Cardinals earn 12 points in addition to the six they earned by finishing fourth in the regular-season standings, totaling 18 points to clinch the fourth and final spot of the CCIW Automatic Qualifier Tournament in the spring with the conference's bid to the NCAA Championship on the line.
Kanthaphixay became just the second player in program history to earn an individual title, joining Kayla Garcia (No. 6 singles in 2013) as the lone CCIW Champions.
The freshman opened the tournament with a 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 victory over Ysabel Gonzaga of Elmhurst College, before mounting a tough 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 comeback win in the semi-finals over top-seeded Zeana Badawi of Augustana.
In the final, the fourth-seeded Kanthaphixay once again was forced to play from behind against second-seeded Claire Browning of Wheaton, losing the opening set 4-6 before regaining her composure with a dominant 6-0 second set to even the score at one set apiece. In the third and final set, Kanthaphixay powered past Browning, 6-3 to complete the comeback win.
Continuing their strong performance in singles play,
Diana Barcelata turned in a second-place finish at the No. 1 position for just the second time in program history and the first since Jeni Seitz in 1992.
Barcelata opened play with a strong 6-1, 6-1 win over Millikin University's Morgan Bettner, before scoring a hard fought 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 win over Carroll University's Grace Krueger in the semis.
Advancing to Sunday's championship against Augustana's Caitlyn Schaffer, the battle between the top-two seeds was won by Schaffer in straight 6-2 sets, avenging her regular-season loss to Barcelata.
At No. 2 singles,
Hannah Hougland cruised past North Park University's Linnea Love in straight 6-0 sets in the first round, before suffering a 6-2, 6-2 defeat at the hands of eventual champion Annie Timm of Augustana.
Hougland bounced back nicely however in the playback bracket, scoring a 8-2 victory over Carthage's Natalie Favia before defeating Carroll's Shanna Mogden, 8-4 in the third-place match.
Also turning in a third-place finish was
Katie McGraw at the No. 5 position, beginning the championship with a 6-4, 6-2 first-round win over Ashley Mohr of Illinois Wesleyan University.
McGraw was bounced to the playback bracket with a 6-1, 6-4 loss to eventual champion Maleeha Chowdhury of Augustana, but rebounded with a 8-1 victory over Millikin's Katie Cooper to advance to the third-place match. Squaring off against Carthage's Nia Pham, McGraw took down the third-seeded Pham with a 8-3 final score to clinch the fourth top-three finish for the Cardinals in singles play.
In doubles play, Hougland and Kanthaphixay led the way with a third-place finish in the No. 1 bracket, taking down Millikin's Bettner and Shelby Jones in a tight 8-6 final in the opening round.
After suffering a heartbreaking 9-8 defeat in the second round, the duo responded with a 8-2 win over Carroll's Krueger and Mogden, while rolling past Wheaton's Browning and Claire Dibble, 8-1 to earn the third-place finish.
The CCIW Championship concluded the fall season for North Central, as the Cardinals open up the spring portion of the schedule on Saturday, Mar. 2 against Eastern Illinois University.
