WHEATON, Ill. – Augustana overcame a 2-1 deficit in doubles to defeat Carthage 5-3 in the semifinal of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin automatic qualifying tournament on Friday, April 24 in Wheaton, Illinois. The Vikings, ranked 18th in the Central Region, avenged a 5-4 loss to the Lady Reds from September 6 to advance to the championship against Wheaton on Saturday, April 26. The winner of that match will earn the CCIW's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III tournament.
 
The third-seeded Vikings picked up a win at second doubles, as sophomore Lauren Goggin (Buffalo Grove HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) and freshman Mollie Magee (Olathe East HS, Overland Park, Ill.) were 8-3 victors over Taylor Bolyard and Kristen Kalinka. However Carthage won at first and third doubles to take a 2-1 lead heading into singles play. Haleigh McPeek and Max Mella bested Coach Jon Miedema's number one team of sophomore Dana Goggin and junior Aileen MacDonald (Mundelein HS, Mundelein, Ill.) 8-6 and Abbi Howell and Kirsten Peterson defeated senior Miranda Pence (Oswego HS, Oswego, Ill.) and sophomore Vicki Andonova (Downers Grove South HS, Westmont, Ill.) 8-3 at number three.
 
Carthage also won at number one singles, where McPeek beat Lauren Goggin two and two. However, Dana Goggin defeated Mella 6-4, 6-2 at number two and Magee was a 7-5, 6-2 winner over Howell at number three.
 
MacDonald defeated Bolyard 6-4, 6-2 at number four and Pence downed Kalinka 6-3, 6-2 at number five. The sixth singles match between Andonova and Peterson was even in the third set (7-5, 2-6, 2-2) when play was ended.
 
Miedema's Vikings improved to 20-8 on the season. Carthage, rated 13th in the most recent Central Region rankings, lost for just the third time in 23 dual meets this year.