Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton women's tennis team opened up play in the 2020-21 CCIW Women's Tennis Championship on Tuesday afternoon by hosting Elmhurst University in a First Round match. Wheaton defeated the Bluejays 6-0 to advance to the Semifinal round on Friday.

Wheaton, the No. 2 seed will play No. 3 seed Augustana on Friday at 3:00 p.m. in the second Semifinal of the day at Carthage College's Smeds Tennis Center. No. 1 seed North Central faces No. 4 seed at Millikin at noon on Friday in the other Semifinal. Friday's two winners advance to the final on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The Thunder swept Elmhurst in doubles play this afternoon to take an early 3-0 lead. The first doubles team to earn a victory was the Thunder No. 1 doubles team of Emme Lindquist and Abygale Ahn. The Thunder duo defetaed Elmhurst's Julia Kostadinova and Isabella Rahman 8-0. Claire Dibble and Bethany Hoogerheide teamed up for an 8-1 victory at No. 2 doubles against Elmhurst's Megan Engstrom and June Bering. The third Thunder triumph in doubles play was an 8-7 win at No. 3 doubles for the tandem of Sarah Backer and Caroline Park as the topped Morgan Bilancia and Bailey Ekstrand.

Caroline Park earned a 6-0, 6-0 win against Engstrom at No. 6 singles to extend Wheaton's lead to 4-0. The matches at No. 2 and No. 3 singles finished at the same time to secure the 6-0 victory for the Thunder. Ahn earned a 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 2 singles against Bilancia. Dibble defeated Rahman 6-3, 6-2 in their match at No. 3 singles.