BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Second-seeded Wheaton  won the 2026 CCIW Women’s Tennis Championship on Saturday, defeating top-seeded North Central 4-1 at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Ill.
 
The Thunder earned their first CCIW title since 2019 and secured the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Championship. Saturday’s match was the fourth meeting in the last five years between Wheaton and North Central in the CCIW tournament final.
 
Wheaton took a 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point. North Central’s Kensington Payne and Abigail Penados won at No. 1 doubles, defeating Madeline Gentry and Tatum Thurstone, 6-4. Wheaton responded with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. Janet Kondo and Ella Malone defeated Liveta Ezerskis and Kate Herlihy, 7-5, at No. 2 doubles, while Mia Luo and Carly O’Leary won 6-3 over Sophia Drozd and Meghan McSweeney at No. 3 doubles.
 
Penados earned North Central’s point at No. 1 singles, defeating Gentry 6-3, 7-5. Wheaton won three singles matches to close out the championship. Luo defeated Drozd 6-3, 6-0 at No. 6 singles, and Sophie Dew added a 7-5, 6-3 win over McSweeney at No. 5 singles.
 
The match was decided at No. 4 singles, where Kondo defeated Herlihy 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. The victory gave Wheaton its fourth team point and secured the championship.
 
Two singles matches were unfinished when the team result was decided. Payne was in the third set against Thurstone at No. 2 singles, while Ezerskis held a lead against Malone at No. 3 singles.
 
Prior to the match, Wheaton’s Mariclaire O’Gorman received the CCIW Elite 26 award, presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average in the final match of the conference tournament.