WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #20
May
1995
Trinity University, after a victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
(Calif.) Colleges (6-3), lost to the University of California-San
Diego in the semifinals and Washington & Lee (Va.) University
in the consolation match to finish in fourth place at the 1995 NCAA
Division III Women's Tennis Championships played in Sweet Briar,
Va.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #19
April
27-30, 2006
For the first time since 1997, the SCAC was unable to
complete its women’s tennis championship match. With the
league’s two powerhouses meeting for the third time in four
years for the SCAC women’s tennis championship, the match was
called with DePauw University leading 3-1, due to travel
conflicts for Trinity University. Both teams were declared
co-champions. The title match, which was played on Sewanee’s
three indoor courts, started several hours late due to
Sunday’s inclement weather. The
championship was the 16th consecutive for Trinity, which remains
the league's all-time record for consecutive conference
championships in any sport.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #18
May 1996
The SCAC sends three teams - the most of any Division III
conference in the nation - to compete in the field of 14 at the
1996 NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Championships. Of the
three, Trinity University fares the best as the Tigers finish
in fourth place for the second consecutive year. Rhodes
College and Sewanee-The University of the South both drop
first-round matches. In individual competition, defending singles
champion Nao Kinoshita of Rhodes College is upset in the
quarterfinals by Trinity’s Laura Brady, who is then defeated
in the semifinals.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #17
May 18, 2002
The Trinity University women’s tennis team falls one
match short of reaching the national title match for the third
consecutive year as the Tigers are defeated 5-4 by Williams in the
semifinals of the 2002 NCAA Division III Championships. Later that
day, Trinity loses 5-4 to Washington & Lee in the third/fourth
place match.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #16
May 1992
The women's tennis team for Sewanee-The University of the
South is selected as one of eight schools to participate in
the 1992 Division III Women’s Tennis Championships. The
Tigers lose 7-2 in the first round to Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.)
College, but in the process becomes the first team in the SCAC era
to finish in the Top 10 in a national championship competition.
Sewanee’s Cameron Tyer advanced to the semifinals of the
individual competition as well as the doubles competition with
teammate Becky Jo Doncaster. The following year, Tyer was named
Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) Senior
Player-of-the-Year.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #15
May 17-19,
2003
The fourth-seeded doubles team of senior Haley Heathman and
freshman Liz Bondi of DePauw University, who was named last week as
the national player to watch by the Intercollegiate Tennis
Association, defeated the top-seeded team of Lindsay Hagerman and
Erika Proko of Washington & Lee, 7-6 (4), 6-4, to advance to
the Division III doubles championship against second-seeded Mary
Ellen Gordon and Jolyn Taylor of Emory. The tandem then lost to the
Emory team in the national title match by a 6-3, 6-2 score,
snapping a 23-match win streak for the DePauw duo.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #14
May 17,
2007
A day after falling to Amherst College in the national semifinals,
Sewanee-The University of the South earned the third-place trophy
by defeating second-ranked Williams, 5-3, in Fredericksburg at the
2007 NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Championships. This
year’s team, which finished with 23-2 record, posted the
highest national finish for any Sewanee team in any sport. The
1990 women's tennis team for Sewanee finished fourth in the nation
after the NCAA tournament.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #13
May 4-10,
1999
The Trinity University women finish third nationally at
the 1999 NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Championships. It
is the fourth time in seven years the Trinity women have finished
third or better at the championships. After receiving a first-round
bye, The Tigers defeat Washington & Lee 7-2, in the second
round before dropping a 5-4 decision to eventual national champion
Amherst in the national semifinals. Trinity rebounds to win the
third/fourth match with Skidmore 5-4.
In individual competition, Lola Taylor and Lizzie Yasser of
Trinity advance all the way to the doubles finals before
losing 6-4, 6-3, to Inke Noel and Lisa Powers of Skidmore in the
national championship match.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #12
May 1993
At the 1993 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championships,
held at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., Trinity University
takes third place with a 5-4 victory over Mary Washington
(Va.) College in the national consolation match. Trinity
defeated Emory (Ga.) University, 6-3, in the national
quarterfinals but lost to eventual champion Kenyon
(Ohio) College, 6-3, in the semifinals. Sewanee-The University
of the South picks up sixth-place after losing 6-3 to the
University of California-San Diego in the fifth-place match.
In individual competition, Trinity’s Stephanie Desmond teams
with Pascale Muhleman to reach the doubles championship, but the
pair are defeated in the title match 6-4, 7-5.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #11
May 1994
Trinity University's women’s tennis team, playing
as the top seed in Kalamazoo, Mich., finishes third in the nation
by knocking off Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) College, 5-1, in the
consolation finals. Sewanee-The University of the
South's women finish seventh after a 5-4 win over the
University of California-Santa Cruz in the seventh place match.
Rhodes College's Nao Kinoshita makes it to the championship
match of the national singles competition, defeating
Trinity’s Stephanie Desmond (6-2, 6-0) in the national
semifinals before dropping the championship match to Claire Turchi
of Pomona-Pitzer 6-2, 6-3. Kinoshita, just a freshman, had won the
Women’s Rolex Southern Championships in Atlanta earlier in
the year.
WOMEN'S TENNIS -
MOMENT #10
April 26-29, 2007
Sewanee-The University of the South captures its first-ever
outright SCAC women’s tennis title by defeating #1
nationally-ranked DePauw University, 5-4, as part of the 2007
Spring Sports Festival at the Waco Regional Tennis Center in Waco,
Texas. With the match deadlocked at 4-4, Sewanee’s Jordan
Casey fought back from down a set to defeat DePauw’s Kristine
Lewry, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, to give the Tigers the match victory and
conference championship. Liz Bondi, with a career record of 11-0,
becomes just one of three players to go their entire career without
losing a match in SCAC tournament singles play – joining
Laura Brady (1995-1998) and Lizzie Yasser (1999-2002), both of
Trinity. After voting two weeks later, Bondi also joined Yasser as
the only winners of back-to-back-to-back SCAC Women's
Tennis Player-of-the-Year awards.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #9
May 23,
2005
DePauw University's Liz Bondi, after advancing with a
semifinal win over Kristen Raverta of Amherst, loses a tough, 5-7,
6-3, 6-2, decision to Lindsay Hagerman of Washington & Lee in
the championship match of the 2005 NCAA Women’s Tennis
Division III Individual Tournament.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #8
April 22-25, 2004
Trinity University’s women’s tennis team wins
its 13th consecutive conference title with a 9-0 sweep of
Sewanee-University of the South in the title match of the 2004 SCAC
Women’s Tennis Championship at the DeKalb Tennis Center in
Atlanta, Ga. Trinity’s run in women’s tennis is the
longest consecutive championship streak in any sport in the 42-year
history of the CAC/SCAC.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #7
May 22, 2002
Trinity University senior all-American Lizzie Yasser
becomes the first female Trinity tennis player in 16 years to reach
the NCAA singles final but loses in a hard-fought final to
defending NCAA Champion Elena Blanina of Methodist, 7-5,
7-6(2).
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #6
May 20, 2001
Williams College defeats Trinity University, 6-3, to win the
2001 NCAA Division III National Championship for women’s
tennis Sunday on the campus of Trinity. The
Tigers had advanced to Sunday’s final after victories
over Washington & Lee (7-2) and Amherst (5-4) and fell just
short of repeating as national champions.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #5
May 12, 1997
The sixth-seeded Trinity University women’s
tennis team lose to top-seed Kenyon (Ohio) College, 6-3, in the
finals of the 1997 NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis
Championship at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College in Claremont
College. The appearance in the national finals is the first
for the Trinity women's program after five straight showings
in the national semifinals. Trinity reached the title match by
defeating Washington (Mo.) University, 5-4, in the first round,
Amherst (Mass.) College, 6-3, in the quarterfinals and Emory (Ga.)
University, the second-seed and defending national champion, 5-4,
in the semifinals.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #4
May 15, 1995
Nao Kinoshita of Rhodes College, a sophomore from Tokyo,
Japan, defeats Amy Smith of Emory (Ga.) University, 7-6, 6-0, to
win the 1995 NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Singles
Championship at Sweet Briar, Va. This victory marks the first
individual national championship for both Rhodes College and the
conference (SCAC era).
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #3
May 20,
2007
After victories over Sarah D'Elia of Bowdoin in the opening round
(6-4, 6-0); Tshema Nash of Emory in the round of 16 (6-1, 6-3);
Middlebury's Amy Roche in the quarterfinals (6-3, 6-3) and
Pomona-Pitzer's Siobhan Finicane in the semifinals (6-3, 6-3),
DePauw’s top-seeded Liz Bondi played for the national singles
title for the second time in three years, and this time, the senior
all-American would not be denied. Bondi wrapped up her collegiate
career by winning the University's first individual tennis national
title as she defeated defending champion Emily Applegate of
Washington & Lee in the NCAA Division III singles final 6-2,
4-6, 7-6 (7-3). In the third and deciding set, each player held
serve and Bondi fought off three match points. She eventually won
the tiebreaker, 7-3. Bondi, who finishes the 2006-07 season
with a 31-2 singles record and a 25-3 doubles mark, was later named
the ITA Division III Senior of the Year and the Honda Division
III Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. Over the course
of her career the Park Ridge, Ill., resident finished with a 124-10
singles record and 119-15 in doubles.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #2
May 19-21,
2000
The Trinity University women take the 2000 Division III
Women’s Tennis Championship at St. Peter, Minn., defeating
UC-San Diego 4-3 in the title match. Abby Ulrich defeated Melissa
Liao of UC-San Diego at #5 in a tough three set match (2-6, 6-4,
6-1) to wrap up the championship. The Tigers had defeated Williams,
6-3, in the quarterfinals and advanced to the finals with a 6-3
victory over Washington & Lee. Trinity had finished third in
1999 and was national runner-up in 1997.
With the men earning their own title in Kalamazoo, Mich., just
minutes before the women, Trinity became the first school in
Division III history to win the Men’s and Women’s
Tennis Championships in the same year. The titles are also the
first-ever team national championships for a SCAC school.
WOMEN'S TENNIS - MOMENT #1
May 12,
1997
Senior Nao Kinoshita of Rhodes wins her second national title in
three years, taking the 1997 NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis
Singles Championship with a straight sets victory of 6-4, 6-4 over
Jamie Levine of Skidmore (N.Y.) College. Kinoshita, a three-time
all-American, remains of the most decorated female student-athlete
in SCAC history. Kinoshita wins two individual national
championships with one second-place finish, a doubles national
championship and finishes with a 81-7 all-time singles record.
And as if one title over the weekend was not enough, Kinoshita
teamed with Taylor Tarver to win the 1997 NCAA Division III Doubles
Championship. The Rhodes duo won the championship with a 6-4, 6-3
straight sets victory over Aaron Hockman and Ali St. Vincent of
Kenyon (Ohio) College.
For more on the top SCAC Women's Tennis moment, including an
interview with former Rhodes' all-American Nao
Kinoshita-Wylie, click here.