Contact: Alex Mielcarz, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, ajmielcarz@noctrl.edu

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (Oct. 9, 2026) – The North Central College women's tennis team fell in its fourth consecutive contest Friday afternoon, this time against College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) foe Augustana College SCORE at the Lincoln Park Tennis Courts in Rock Island, Illinois. Kate Herlihy won her fourth consecutive singles match in CCIW play, while Meghan McSweeney also grabbed her fourth consecutive CCIW singles victory in the loss.

Augustana (6-2, 6-1 CCIW) swept through doubles to earn the first point of the match. Berkley Klarich and Herlihy fell in the number one slot 6-2, while McSweeney and Anais Gerard dropped their match in the number two spot by the same score. Alexandra Zaskowski and Abigail Heintz lost in the number three match by the score of 6-3.

McSweeney evened the match with a straight-sets victory in the number three singles match. After trading games at the start of the opening set, McSweeney built a lead up to 4-2 and eventually 5-3 before dropping consecutive games to tie the set at five. McSweeney proceeded to break her opponent's serve to go up 6-5, and clinched the set in the following game, winning 7-5. She jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second set before trading blows to bring the score to 4-2. McSweeney took the lead 5-3 on her serve, breaking her opponent's serve to win the set 6-3 and tie the match at one.

The Vikings picked up three points in rapid succession to win the match, all in straight sets: Zaskowski lost the number five match 6-4, 6-1; Gerard fell in the number 4 match 6-2, 6-0; and Heintz lost in the number six spot in the lineup 7-5, 6-0.

With the match already clinched, North Central continued to fight. Herlihy dominated in the first set of her match in the number-two spot, winning 6-1. The second set went the distance. Herlihy trailed 5-3, but battled back to win a game on her serve to pull within one, then broke her opponent's serve to tie the set at five. Herlihy's adversity didn't end there. She fell in the ensuing game, but battled back yet again to tie the set at six, breaking serve to do so. She then kept her serve, clinching the 13th and final game to win the set 7-6 and give North Central (1-5, 1-5) its second point of the night.

Klarich found herself in a three-set thriller from the top of coach Joey Leto's lineup. Klarich and her opponent fought to a 3-3 tie in the opening set. Klarich then took the next two games to go up 5-3 before her opponent took two in a row of her own, tying the set at five. The Augustana player then won a third straight game to go up 6-5. Klarich fought back to tie on her serve and proceeded to break serve to win the opening set 7-6.

Klarich's opponent forced a third set by winning the second 6-4. Despite dropping the second set, Klarich stayed steady and won the tiebreak game to 10 to clinch North Central's third point of the match.

Klarich is now 3-3 in CCIW singles play. Herlihy turned in her third straight overall singles win and seventh in nine tries. McSweeney won her third consecutive conference match this afternoon, improving to 5-3 on the year overall, and 4-2 in conference play.

The Cardinals conclude their conference slate on Wednesday when they host North Park University.