April 19, 2008

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . Coe College secured its second consecutive berth in the NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Championships April 19 with a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over Luther College in the final of the inaugural Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Women’s Tennis NCAA Automatic Qualifier Tournament in Cedar Rapids. This is the first time the IIAC has conducted a separate tournament to determine its automatic qualifier and just the second in which the NCAA has granted Division III conferences automatic qualification in tennis.

Luther (27-7) took two of three doubles points with an 8-5 win at No. 2 by Alana Humpal and Katie Nichols and an 8-6 win at No. 3 by Kelsie Allen and Amy Christenson. However, straight-set wins by Molly Fiala, Hannah Jensen, and Hillary Allen at the top three singles positions pushed Coe to a 4-2 lead. The Norse drew even at 4-4 as Kelsie Allen captured a 7-6 (6), 6-1 win at No. 4 and Fran Fairfield scored a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 5. Coe’s Susan Gilmer topped Christenson 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-5 at No. 6 singles to record the deciding point for Coe and clinch the AQ.

This was the third consecutive time that Coe and Luther have played to a 5-4 decision in a tournament setting. The schools also met in the 2006 IIAC Tournament semifinals and last fall’s IIAC Tournament final. All three matches were won by the Kohawks.

Coe and Luther each posted 5-0 sweeps in Saturday morning semifinal matches. The Kohawks topped No. 4-seed Wartburg, while Luther downed No. 3-seed Central in a match played at Cornell College in Mount Vernon.

Coe, now 22-3, receives the IIAC's guaranteed berth into the 47-team NCAA Division III Championship field. Team selections will be announced April 28 with regional play occurring May 2-4. Each of the eight regional champion teams, along with 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams selected April 29, will advance to the finals of the 2008 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championships to be held May 13-18 on the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. The team championship will be conducted May 13-15 with championship play in singles and doubles being held May 16-18.

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