IVCC’s women’s tennis team won the Region IV championship on Oct. 9, qualifying the team for a trip to the national tournament.

Nationals will be Oct. 29-31 at the Peachtree City Tennis Center in Peachtree, Georgia. Karissa Etzenbach, IVCC’s No. 1 player, stated that the team’s hope for nationals is to go in looking sharp.

Etzenbach, a graduate of La Salle-Peru High School, was the No. 1 singles region champion, and she was awarded Most Valuable Player of the Year for Region IV.

“Winning the Region IV Player of the Year honor feels pretty good,” explained Etzenbach. “With being a freshman in college, it truly means a lot to me. I couldn’t have gotten the award without the help of my teammates and especially my coach, Julie. Julie has been one of the most uplifting coaches I’ve ever had.”

At No. 2 singles, Haley Schmitz was also a region champion, recording a 6-1, 6-0 win.

While the team has struggled some this year, the team’s losses have been to Division I opponents. The team competes in Division III.

Etzenbach explained that while the size of the team has been an overall weakness as well as losing a player to COVID, their strengths have kept them going.

“The team’s strengths have been winning what we needed to win to get to where we are going,” said Etzenbach.

On Sept. 29, the team won against Moraine Valley, 6-3. Winners that day included Olivia Woods, Amethyst Ernat, Brianna Strehl and Clara Ferrari. Wins also were recorded by the doubles teams of Ernat/Woods and Ferrari/Schmitz.

The tennis team is coached by Julie Milota.