17 October 2002
CONTACT: Stew Salowitz, (309) 556-3206
 
 

IWU Women's Tennis Ready for CCIW Meet

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — The young Illinois Wesleyan University women's tennis team is looking to improve on last season's fourth place finish at this weekend's College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championships.

"The conference meet could be very interesting and should be close between IWU and three other schools - Carthage, Wheaton and Augustana," said coach Sally Mangina. "I'm looking for our seasoned veterans to make a statement. We have a lot of young players this year, and it's time for our upperclass players to step up and raise the level of their play."

At the tourney, which will be held tomorrow and Saturday at Bloomington's Evergreen Racquet Club, the pairing of junior Erika Herrin (Springfield/Southeast HS) and freshman Deb Bartell (Wheaton/Glenbard West HS) will likely be the top seed at No. 2 doubles. Herrin and Bartell are 12-3 overall as a doubles team and did not lose in the CCIW dual meets.

Three of IWU's singles players are freshmen - Lindsey Irwin (Belleville/West HS) at No.1, Bartell at No. 2, and Andrea Bulkley (Springfield/Sacred Heart Griffin HS) at No. 5. Irwin, who has a 10-5 record at No. 1, will probably be the second-seed and Bartell (10-5 at No. 2) and Bulkley (11-4 at No. 5) will be four seeds.

Two Bloomington High School products, sophomore Diane Arnold and senior Krista Vogel, will play at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, while junior Lindy Wick (Highland/Breese Mater Dei) will play at No. 6 singles.

Vogel is 10-5 at No. 4 singles and 44-26 in her career, making her 12^th all-time in singles wins at IWU.

Wick will also play No. 3 doubles with freshman Jane Szafraniec (Mt. Prospect/Rolling Meadows HS), while the team of Irwin and Arnold has a 3-5 record as the No. 1 doubles squad. The Wick-Szafraniec team is 12-2 at No. 3 doubles.

"All our players need to concentrate on the match at hand and be totally focused throughout the tournament," said Mangina. "When they maintain their focus on each point, they are successful."