During a five-year stretch in the 1990s, the Kenyon College Ladies won three NCAA Division III Tennis Championships. The first of those three came at the conclusion of the 1993 season.
There was plenty of momentum building up to the Ladies' title run. The previous season, the team made it to the NCAA Championship match, only to drop a 5-4 decision to Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. Carrying that chip on their shoulder throughout the 1993 season, the Ladies whipped through their regular-season schedule with a 19-1 record.
When the postseason rolled around, the Kenyon women just kept steamrolling their competition. The team put together back-to-back 5-0 wins over Case Western Reserve University and Allegheny College in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship. In the final, the Ladies dismantled rival Denison University, 9-0, and claimed their eighth straight conference crown.
From there, it was on to NCAA Championship at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Back then, just a dozen teams earned invites to the dance. Kenyon claimed the top seed and a first-round bye. When the Ladies took the court on Wednesday, May 12, they got the ball rolling with a convincing 8-1 win over The University of the South. Led by senior Katja Zerck, the Ladies swept all six singles matches and took two of three doubles matches.
That
Katja Zerck
result thrust the team into Thursday's semifinal round to face No. 4-seeded Trinity College of Texas. The two teams had faced each other during the regular season. In that match, Trinity won four of the six singles matches, but Kenyon bounced back to sweep doubles and recorded a tight, 5-4, victory.
When that same match-up took the NCAA stage, things did not go the same way. Kenyon's strong singles showing determined the outcome before doubles even played out. In a battle that lasted over six hours, the Ladies won five of six singles matches and one of three doubles matches to post a 6-3 win.
Back into the Championship match the Ladies went. This time they were pitted against No. 3-seeded Gustavus Aldophus College for all the marbles. Confidence was high, as the Ladies had defeated the Gusties, 6-3, earlier in the season.
On Friday, May 14, 1993 the Ladies won Kenyon's first NCAA Tennis Championship and first national team title other than swimming and diving. The senior-dominated squad once again controlled singles play, took the Gusties' strong doubles play out of the picture and rolled to a 7-2 triumph in the final.
The Championship match spanned more than five hours with Zerck, again, leading the way by winning both her singles and doubles matches. Following her win at No. 1 singles, the Ladies saw senior Lisa Weisman win at No. 3 and seniors Britt and Brennan Harbin, win at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. First-year Tegan Tindall rounded out the Ladies' singles wins by taking the No. 6 match.
In doubles, Zerck teamed with first-year Lori Mannheimer to win the No. 2 match, while Weisman paired with senior Sara Fousekis to claim victory at No. 3.
The Ladies ended the year with a 25-1 record that included a program-best 23-game win streak. Zerck went on to earn All-America status after finishing as the runner-up in the 32-player NCAA Division III Singles Championship.
The 1993 team was comprised of all seniors and first-years. The senior class included Sara Fousekis, Brennen Harbin, Britt Harbin, Lisa Weisman and Katja Zerck, while the first-year class included Adrienne Biggert, Jamie Griffith, Lori Mannheimer, Jen Olmos and Tegan Tindall. Head coach Paul Wardlaw was named the 1993 NCAA Division III Coach of the Year. His assistant coach was B.E. Palmer.
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