Two finalists helped add up to third place for the Illinois Valley Community College (IVCC) women's tennis team at the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III National Tennis Championship last month in Peachtree, Georgia.
Hannah Warwick and Abbey Ruppert each reached the championship match of their divisions as the Eagles claimed points in seven of the nine divisions for third place in the tournament.
Warwick took second place at No. 3 singles, while Ruppert was runner-up at No. 6 singles. Also, No. 1 singles player Ali Kutz and No. 2 singles Savanna Weitzel each won their division's consolation championship.
IVCC Head Coach Julie Milota told the Illinois Valley Times that the team had scheduled the season so that the players would have a lot of matches in the span of a few days, much like they would experience at the national tournament. That included playing in a tournament structured like the championship meet.
“They were, I feel, very prepared for the format, so that part helped tremendously,” Milota said.
Warwick started her march to the finals with a 2-1 win over Camden County's Alyssa Cruz in the first round, then topped SUNY Broome's Molly Secord 2-0 in the semifinals. She fell to Oxford of Emory's Mary Kathryn Healy 2-0 in the championship match.
Meanwhile, Ruppert had a first-round bye before downing Fashion IT's Michelle Sparrow 2-0 in the semifinals. In the title match, Ruppert was swept 2-0 by Oxford of Emory's Sally Kim.
Milota said her two All-Americans have similar approaches to the game.
“They're just very driven, not that all the girls aren't driven,” Milota said. “You know how sometimes a player just has that tenacity, you know, and that's what I would say -- they're just very, very tenacious players.”
Kutz and Weitzel each bounced back after first-round losses to win their two consolation-round matches. Each of the four wins was worth half a point in the team points standings.
Allison Vargo at No. 4 singles and Taylor Pappas at No. 5 singles won their first-round matches before bowing out in the semifinals, as did the team of Kutz and Ruppert at No. 2 doubles. Each first-round win was worth two points in the standings, so IVCC had eight points after the first day of action.
All of those efforts combined to give the Eagles 14 team points, which was enough to push them just past Camden County (13.5 points) for third place.
“It took everybody to get that done, so I think that was the most-exciting part,’ Milota said.
Oxford of Emory won the team title with 36 points, and Fashion IT took second place with 19 points.
Looking ahead to next season, Milota said Ruppert, Kutz and Weitzel will not be back. However, Warwick, Vargo and Pappas are expected to return. The team is looking at recruiting at least four more players, Milota said.
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