CARTHAGE NEARLY SWEEPS EN ROUTE TO WINNING CCIW TITLE AND BREAKING WHEATON'S FOUR YEAR STRANGLEHOLD ON CROWN; LADY REDS' KELLY MIKKILA TAKES NUMBER ONE SINGLES TITLE FOR SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR

BLOOMINGTON, Illinois - It was a long time between drinks at the championship fountain for the women's tennis team at Carthage College. Looking at the way the Lady Reds handled the rest of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin in the conference tournament at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Illinois on October 18-19 and it is hard to imagine that it will quite so long again.

Carthage won its only other CCIW women's tennis title in 1991 under the direction of head coach Ron Zalokar. It took 11 years before Brady Lindsley's bunch could repeat that feat but when it happened, it did so in a big way. The Lady Reds romped to victory by scoring 77 points and winning five of six singles and all three doubles crowns. In doing so Carthage stopped Wheaton's CCIW title streak at four. Wheaton took second with 51 points while Illinois Wesleyan had third with 42 and Augustana was fourth with 32. North Central finished fifth with 14, Elmhurst was sixth with five, Millikin took seventh with four and North Park was eighth with a single point.

Kelly Mikkila led the Carthage attack by winning the number one singles title for the second year in a row and being awarded the Most Outstanding Performer. In the championship match Mikkila won a tough three set struggle over Lindsey Irwin of Illinois Wesleyan.

Last year the Lady Reds' Sara Cahoon won the title at number three singles but this year she moved up one slot and took first at number two, defeating number one seed Kristen Pence of Augustana 6-0; 7-6.

It was at number three singles where the lone non-Carthage championship took place when third seeded Heather Waybright beat fourth seeded Diane Arnold 6-4; 6-3 in the championship. The singles brackets at four through six went according to seed as Alex Jackson won at number four, Christine Hamm picked up a victory at number five and Natalie Widaman grabbed the title at number six.

Carthage swept the doubles with Cahoon and Mikkila taking number one with an 8-3 victory over Kari Jorgensen and Heather Waybright of Wheaton in the title match. Cahoon and Mikkila won the number two doubles division in 2001. Christine Hamm and Kristine Meulendyke came into the tournament as the two time defending CCIW champions at number one doubles. This year they dropped down to number two and won easily. In the title match Meulendyke and Hamm swept aside Allison McAndrews and Christina Seaba of Augustana 8-1. Natalie Widaman and Rachel Lesinski won the number three doubles with an 8-3 win over Erin Hoekstra and Leah Moberg of Wheaton in the final.

2002 COLLEGE CONFERENCE OF ILLINOIS & WISCONSIN WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 18-19, 2002

Bloomington, Illinois

Evergreen Racquet Club

CCIW PLACEWINNERS