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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - After grabbing their third straight NSIC Tournament championship, Augustana women's tennis secured their fourth consecutive NCAA Central Region Tournament bid and will face No. 35 Southwest Baptist on Monday, April 29 at 11 a.m. in Bolivar, Mo.
The Vikings enter NCAA postseason play with a 21-2 record and a perfect 19-0 mark against Division II competition. The Vikings cruised to their fourth straight regular season NSIC title by finishing 12-0 in conference play, including 10 shutout wins. With their undefeated record, Augustana stretched their regular-season NSIC-match win streak to 43 consecutive victories.
Augustana head coach
Marc Kurtz also increased the team's competition by scheduling three Division I opponents and a top-five Junior College program to prepare the Vikings for heightened competition in the realigned Central Region.
Augustana posted a 2-2 record as a team against the heightened competition and all the Vikings earned crucial experience. That experience will come in handy when they Vikings square off with the 35th-ranked Bobcats.
Peering into past postseasons
This is the fourth straight trip to the NCAA postseason for Augustana women's tennis and the third time they have grabbed an automatic bid by winning the NSIC tournament title. The Vikings compiled a 2-3 record in their three previous appearances.
Last season the Vikings fell in the first round to Colorado Mesa, 5-4, as the top seed in the Central Region. The Vikings dropped the three doubles matches and despite taking four singles matches, couldn't overcome the Mavericks.
In 2011, the Vikings downed Nebraska-Kearney 5-2 before falling to Concordia-New York in the round of 16.The Vikings dropped the Lopers on the back of two doubles wins and
Katie Jesperson,
Michelle Wadas, and
Hannah Gebauer handling their singles matches.
In the program's first NCAA Championships, the Vikings snagged one doubles match, but were outmatched by Concordia-New York in the next five matches and fell 5-1.
The Vikings opened the 2010 NCAA postseason with a win over Upper Iowa before losing just their second match of the year to Nebraska-Kearney in the region finals. The Vikings quickly dispatched Upper Iowa 5-2 but UNK was too much for the Vikings and ended their inaugural trip to the NCAA Tournament with a 5-1 loss.
Respect from the rankings
Augustana would have liked to be higher in the region rankings, but held steady at No. 4 all three weeks of the NCAA rankings. Three Vikings did earn some respect from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association as they climbed up the individual rankings.
The ITA released their third set of region rankings on Wednesday and the Vikings moved to No. 4 as a team and Augustana's top two singles players improved their individual standings.
Katie Jesperson downed former No. 2-ranked Vanessa Gunawan from Nebraska-Kearney in straight sets on April 15 and moved up seven spots to No. 2 in this month's rankings.
Jessa Richards also beat her UNK opponent, Kristin Weems, in straight sets and moved from No. 20 to 19th in the April 24 set of rankings. Jesperson and doubles partner
Michelle Wadas took a slight hit in the doubles rankings, falling from No. 7 to ninth after a loss in the NSIC Championship match.
Monday's Central Region match will pair the top two singles players when SBU's Fanni Varga and Jesperson take the court. The No. 2 doubles match will also pit two top-20 Central Region performers in Richards and Southwest Baptist's Mehak Singh.
The Bobcats do bolster to two more individually-ranked singles players in Christina Zentai and Adrienn Kovacs who check in at No. 14 and 17, respectively, in Wednesday's rankings.
Coach's corner
Marc Kurtz leads the Vikings into their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament in five years as the head coach of the program. Kurtz has won four straight NSIC regular season titles and three consecutive NSIC Tournament crowns.
The Vikings have tallied a 94-24 record, 51-3 in the NSIC including a 43-match regular season match winning streak against NSIC teams under teh Montana State-Billings graduate. Kurtz has led Augustana to three 20-win seasons and has never finished with a losing record.
Second serve
If the Vikings defeat Southwest Baptist, Augustana will travel to Surprise, Ariz. for the NCAA Championships beginning on May 8.
