Naperville, Ill. -- For the second straight season, the Thunder women's tennis team faced off against the Millikin Big Blue in the semifinal round of the conference tournament. Just as they did in the fall of 2021, Wheaton avenged their regular season defeat to the Decatur side with a 5-1 victory in the postseason event. The Thunder improve to 17-4 on the year with today's result and advance to Saturday's CCIW Tournament Championship match riding a five-match win streak.

Lydia Adams and Abygale Ahn captured their #1 doubles fixture by an 8-5 scoreline to earn the first point of the day, while Lily Anne Van Ye and Alexandra Wachs came up with a clutch 8-7 tiebreak win in #3 doubles to ensure the Thunder held the lead going into the singles matchups.

Janet Kondo took down her #5 singles opponent with identical 6-4 set scores, before Wachs put Wheaton on the brink of victory with a 6-2, 6-4 win at #3 singles. Senior Lily Anne Van Ye then had the honor of confirming Wheaton's place in the tournament championship as she claimed her #6 singles match at 6-0, 7-5 to give the Thunder the decisive fifth point.

The Thunder know they will have to be at their best if they want to lift the conference trophy and punch their ticket to this year's NCAA Tournament on Saturday. Wheaton will take on the number one seed North Central College Cardinals, who defeated the Thunder in both conference tournament events last season and have yet to drop a CCIW match this year. North Central topped Wheaton by a 7-2 margin in the two teams' most recent meeting in Naperville back in October.

Saturday's championship match is scheduled for 1 PM at the Naperville Tennis Club.