SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Augustana College women's tennis continues a tough stretch of matches when they take their spring break trip to Puerto Rico. The Vikings (11-1) have four matches over three days and will take on two Division I teams in Palmas del Mar, Puerto Rico.

Second serve
Augustana will return from Puerto Rico and hit the road to match up with two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference teams. The Vikings travel to Winona, Minn. taking on host Winona State on Saturday, March 28 at 4 p.m., followed by Upper Iowa on Sunday, March 29 at 9 a.m.

Scouting the competition
Augustana will square off with two Division I schools in Puerto Rico. The Vikings open their trip on March 16 with Division I Navy who's making the trip out of Annapolis, Maryland. Navy enters the week with an 11-6 record, winning their most recent match over the University of Delaware by a score of 4-3. The Vikings then square off with Babson College and Division I Colgate University on March 17. Babson enters the weekend with a 14-3 record, and currently ranked No. 13 in the ITA Division III. Colgate is 4-5 this season last in action against Le Moyne winning 6-1. The University of Massachusetts, Boston and Augustana are set to face-off on March 18 to close out the trip. The Beacons are 3-9 this season, losing their last match against Bridgewater State University by a score of 7-2.

Vikings ranked No. 5 in ITA Central Region rankings
The women's tennis team moved up one spot in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Central Region rankings, coming in at the No. 5 spot. Jessa Richards (No. 10) and Christine Olivo were both ranked in the ITA Central Region singles rankings released on Nov. 3 as the top Viking doubles pairing, Richards and Olivo are ranked fourth in the Central Region according to the ITA. The next set of singles and doubles region rankings will be released in a month. The Vikings are the only team in the rankings from the NSIC, placing in the top five of the Central Region rankings with a 5-1 start to the season. Southwest Baptist comes in at first, while Northeastern State University placed second. Northwest Missouri State tabbed third, while Arkansas Tech and Augustana took fourth and fifth, respectively.

Helleberg earns NSIC Tennis Player of the Week
Augustana College senior Jenna Helleberg was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tennis Player of the Week. This is Hellebergs' first career honor as NSIC Tennis Player of the Week and fourth for the Vikings this season. Helleberg helped Augustana with a dominate 4-0 performance this past weekend leading the Vikings to a 2-0 finish starting with a 9-0 victory over Sioux Falls on Friday followed by a 7-2 win over Gustavus Adolphus on Saturday. The third-flight doubles tandem of Helleberg and Meredith Lawrence rolled to an 8-4 win for the 3-0 Augustana lead to head into singles play. Helleberg helped close the door on the Cougars winning 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5 singles over Kara Bunkers. Dating back to the 2010-11 season where the Vikigns were last in action with the Golden Gusties of Gustavus, Augustana captured its first victory and first for head coach Marc Kurtz with a 7-2 win on Saturday at Woodlake Athletic Club. Helleberg and Lawrence then gave the Vikings a 2-1 margin after doubles competition concluded with an 8-0 win in the No. 3 doubles match. Helleberg walked away victorious with 6-2, 6-1 wins at the No. 5 singles spots over Ally Baker. 

Lawerence improves to 11-0 in singles
Meredith Lawrence remains undefeated in singles with a 5-0 record. Lawrence had a shutout victory at the No. 4 singles over Jennifer Heywood 6-0, 6-0 of Nebraska Wesleyan on Feb. 1 where the Vikings shut out the Prairie Wolves, 9-0. Lawrence then defeated Yamini Reddy of USD at the No. 6 singles 6-0, 6-4, to put momentum back on Augustana's side, but the Vikings would come up short to the Coyotes losing 6-3. Lawrence then defeated over MSU-Billings Mary Conwell with a score of 7-5, 6-1. The match against Jamee Hale of Western Illinois went unfinished, followed by a shutout victory over Andrea Erdman of Minnesota State with a score of 6-0, 6-0. Lawrence stays perfect in singles with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over SMSU's Katie Kienitz. Lawrenece then put the finishing touches on the victory blanking Kate O'Connell 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 6 singles, followed by a 6-2, 6-0 victory at the No. 6 singles spot over Cassie Smith to improve to 7-0 in singles competition. Lawrence downed her opponent with a score of 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 5 singles. This past weekend, Lawrence improved to 9-0 in singles competition with a score of 6-0, 6-0 against Chelsea Burrows of Minnesota Crookston followed by a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Rachel Franklin of Bemidji State. Lawrence then helped the Vikings to a sweep over USF taking the No. 6 singles match 6-0, 6-1 followed by victory over Gustavus Adolphus capping of the night with a dominate 6-1, 6-1 performance at the No. 6 singles spot to improve to 11-0 in singles on the season.

Fall recap: Vikings compete at USTA/ITA Central Region Championships
Augustana traveled to Springfield, Mo. for the ITA Central Region Championships on Sept, 19-20 where Richards and Olivo played as the sixth-seed in doubles at the USTA/ITA Central Region Championships, advancing to the quarterfinals. Richards and Olivo took on second-seeded Kristina Savchenkov and Valeriia Efimenko of Northeastern Oklahoma State and lost 8-3. Berkley Darr also won a singles match at the central region championships, splitting the first two sets 6-2, 6-3, before winning the super tiebreak 10-6 to advance.

Leading the charge
In his seventh season as the head of the Vikings women's tennis program, Kurtz has established his team as the elite squad in the conference as well as picking up a host of awards for himself. Kurtz has been named the NSIC coach of the year four times in the past five years while leading his teams to a 130-28 record. In NSIC matches, Kurtz owns a 70-3 record and has won the NSIC regular-season team title in five consecutive years. Under Kurtz's direction, Augustana has won the past four NSIC tournament titles and have 22 All-NSIC singles honorees and 13 doubles pairings.