St. Louis, Mo. -- Making the program's 13th all-time appearance in the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship, the Wheaton women's tennis team returned to the national stage for the first time in seven years on Thursday by traveling to the campus of Washington University in St. Louis for the opening round of the tournament. The Thunder were drawn against the Midwest Conference champions, Grinnell College, and the nationally-ranked Pioneers won this afternoon's match, 4-0, to advance to Friday's regional semifinal. Wheaton ends the 2025-26 season with an overall mark of 16-6, having recorded its highest win total since 2022-23. Grinnell now owns a record of 17-6 and will meet #13 Kenyon College in tomorrow's second round.
The Thunder squad took the court again after an 11-day break from competition following its victory over North Central College in the CCIW Tournament Championship. Their Iowa-based opponents won the Midwest Conference tournament just five days ago and came into today's fixture possessing wins over three teams on Wheaton's schedule in Lake Forest College, Coe College, and North Central. Grinnell is ranked 27th in the country in this week's ITA Division III team poll, and the Pioneers put in a commanding performance on Thursday to clinch their spot in the next round of the national competition.
Grinnell picked up 6-1 and 6-2 wins from the first two doubles matches to claim the opening point of today's contest. The Pioneers then logged three straight-set victories in the singles program to earn a 4-0 sweep and set up their Top 30 clash against the Kenyon Owls on Friday.
Following the conclusion of its strong campaign, the Wheaton team will now head into the summer offseason routine before returning to play in August. The Thunder will be without their accomplished senior duo of
Madeline Gentry and
Janet Kondo next fall but are set to return plenty of talent and experience elsewhere on the roster as they look to make it back to the national tournament in 2027.
