The IVCC women’s tennis team tied up their season by finishing fourth at the regional tournament in Dixon, missing nationals by two and a half points.

Moraine Valley, Waubonsee and Elgin qualified for nationals.

Karly Rosencrans took the individual award for third singles, and the team of Delaney Ridley and April Kutz took the award for second team doubles.

Nikki Kulis took second place in No. 4 singles.

Seeding for the tournament was based on individual performances in the regular season.

Delaney Ridley was seeded fourth in No. 1 singles. Kutz was third in No. 2 singles.

Rosencrans was first in No. 3 singles. Nikki Kulis was second in No. 4 number four singles. Emma Nettleingham was seeded fourth in No. 5 singles after a hat-draw tiebreaker. Emily Santman was seeded sixth in No. 6 singles.

According to head coach Julie Milota, “We had an excellent showing at regionals. A lot of our matches went to super tie-breakers, including Rosencrans and Kulis’s doubles match that went deep into the night.

“We had to put 18 quarters into the lights machine and it still wasn’t enough to finish the match. We lost light at the courts and had to finish the match up in the morning. “

She continued, “The phenomenal part about the whole season was looking at all the players’ development over the season. They were correcting aspects of their game that had been habits over 20 years.”

With the school’s budget cutbacks and the tennis program being threatened, the team used that situation as motivation. In the summer, the tennis narrowly avoided being cut altogether. This year, the team has had to fund-raise for its existence and the coach is an unpaid volunteer after school board action.

The school had said it would honor tuition waivers to players who came in as freshmen in the 2011-2012 school year.

The team won many individual awards and the coach believes they had a very successful season overall.

“We had a full team of fighters, between the players and the community there to support them as well. Our community does care about athletics in general, and they are there to support us.

“If you have the vision for a program, you have to set goals and accomplish them, and I think we did that this season. We all knew what was at stake; we didn’t state it at every practice, but we know the future of the program could depend on our performance this season.”

There is no spring season for women’s tennis, however, there is a tournament being planned between Elgin, Waubonsee, Moraine Valley and IVCC.

Kulis, Nettleingham, and Ridley are all sophomore players.