Lisle, Ill. -- The Thunder women's tennis team returned to the courts this afternoon following a ten-day break from competition and traveled to nearby Lisle to take on the undefeated North Central Cardinals. Wheaton upset the reigning conference champions, 4-3, to snap the Cardinals' 50-match winning streak in CCIW contests and hand the Naperville side its first loss of the 2024-25 season. Today's result also ended a seven-match winless run against North Central and made Wheaton the first squad to topple the Cardinals in a conference battle since the Thunder program last did so in October of 2019. Wheaton's record is now 5-2 on the year and it joins North Central on a 4-1 mark in CCIW play.
The home side earned a comfortable win at #1 doubles to begin today's competition, but Wheaton answered back with victories at the second and third positions to claim the first point of Wednesday's match.
Delaney Canning and
Janet Kondo posted a smooth 6-1 win in their #3 doubles fixture, before
Ella Malone and
Tatum Thurstone dug deep for a key 7-5 result at #2 doubles to give the visitors an important advantage heading into the singles contests.
The Cardinals tied the team's scores at 1-1 by claiming the first singles point this afternoon, but Canning capped a perfect personal day of results by winning her #5 matchup, 6-3, 7-5, to nudge Wheaton back in front at 2-1. Thurstone joined her fellow sophomore on two match wins for the day by seizing her #6 singles fixture at 7-5, 6-4 to put the Thunder within one point of victory. North Central pulled a point back with a win at #2 singles and would eventually claim another three-set result in the first singles position. But this comeback attempt was not enough to push their team conference win streak to 51, as Malone landed the decisive blow with a hard-fought 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 decision at #4 singles to continue her strong first-season form and seal a historic win for the visitors.
Speaking on today's result and performance, Thunder head coach
Jane Nelson said, "It was a full team effort. Even the matches that we lost today, we played very well in. North Central is a very good team and we had to play our best to earn the win. I am pleased with how our players closed out their matches, particularly at four, five and six singles. There are matches where everything comes together, and it did today."
After a noteworthy and impressive victory today, the Wheaton women face a short turnaround ahead of their next outing. The Thunder will return to campus to host the Elmhurst Bluejays on Friday afternoon in their Homecoming match, with the first serve scheduled for 4:30 PM at the Wheaton Tennis Courts.
