BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- After sweeping Millikin on Friday night, the North Park Women's Tennis team turned around 24 hours later to pick up another CCIW road win with a 5-2 triumph at Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday morning.

The Vikings' doubles play continues to showcase as one of the best in the league, once more sweeping through their opponent. Katja Carlberg and Alexandra Ristfeldt reunited in the #1 slot, earning a 6-3 victory.  Emi Sand and Hanna Zethraeus picked up a 6-1 win in the #2 position while Alexandra Pugachova and Maddie Starr completed the sweep in classic fashion - a 6-0 win.

North Park nearly completed another 7-0 CCIW sweep, but the Titans fought back strong in singles play.

Down in most of the opening sets, the Vikings eventually went on the offensive with hard-hitting groundstrokes. Alexandra Ristfeldt put her opponent on the run in most points, confidently placing the ball wherever she wanted even amidst high paced play.  

Carlberg and Zethraeus both lost their first sets as either seemed able to be able to catch a break against opponents that could run down anything and control the pace that the Vikings tried to put on the ball.  Both players bounced back in their second sets to force the third set tiebreaker.  It appeared Carlberg would win the tiebreaker when she came back from three match points to force the tiebreaker into overtime.

However, the Vikings earned singles wins by #2 Ristfeldt (6-1, 6-0), #4 Emi Sand (7-5, 6-0), Maddie Starr (6-1, 6-0), and Thea Gifvars (6-1, 6-4) to put North Park over the top.

What's Next?

North Park (4-0, 3-0 CCIW) enjoys a week off before another CCIW road match at Wheaton on Saturday, September 21, at 11:00 AM CT.