For the 18th time this season, the Augustana women’s tennis team was victorious. This time the Vikings took down both University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Luther college each by a score of 8-1. The Vikings improved their record to 18-8 on the season, and are currently ranked 18th in the central region.
The Vikings were dominant in their performance Sunday afternoon and Augustana was left undefeated in the singles portion of the matches, losing only one doubles match in each game. Sunday afternoon’s home matches marked the end of the 2018 individual matches for the Vikings.
The Vikings will take on the CCIW automatic qualifier which will take place at Wheaton College on April 27th. Augustana will look to ride their 8-0 record and top spot in the CCIW through the tournament. The ultimate goal for the team is to qualify for a chance to compete for a national title.
While the Vikings have not faced off against a CCIW opponent this spring, they finished second in the CCIW during the fall season and will be tasked with knocking off the 13th ranked team in the region Wheaton College.
Through the spring season, the Vikings have taken on a number of ranked opponents, and improvement has been evident according to first-year, Malehaa Chowdhury.
“The team has improved so much as the year has gone on because we have basically become a family. We have that support system that everyone needs. I’ve seen the team grow mentally and physically because of all the hard work we have put in with conditioning, practicing, and matches,” Chowdhury said.
Augustana will enter into Wheaton College as the underdogs, but that’s just how they like it.
” As a CCIW qualifier, we are going in with the mentality of being the underdogs because we did get second place in the fall tournament so that motivation will really help us. We have been successful thanks to the off-court workouts, and our competitive nature,”  Sophomore Zeana Badawi said.
Photo above: First-year Annie Timm prepares to hit a forehand to her opponents during her number two doubles match. The Augustana women’s tennis team overall lost to Luther College with a score of 9–8. Photo by Tony Dzik.