MILWAUKEE, Wis. (naccsports.org) --- Defending league champion Illinois Tech has been named the favorite to capture the 2026 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) women's tennis crown according to the annual preseason poll released Thursday.
Illinois Tech secured 120 points and 12 of 16 first-place votes in the poll, which consists of votes from the league's head women's tennis coaches and athletics communications professionals.
Edgewood University sits second in this year's poll with 101 points and two first-place votes, just four markers clear of third-place St. Norbert College with 97 points and one first-place vote. Both the Eagles and Green Knights pushed Illinois Tech to the limit during last fall's regular-season play, falling by 4-3 scores. Concordia University Wisconsin (89 points; 1 first-place vote) is fourth, just ahead of Milwaukee School of Engineering (73), while Wisconsin Lutheran College (46), Concordia University Chicago (28), and Marian University (22) round out this year's poll.
2025-26 Recap: Illinois Tech finished 11-10 overall and was a perfect 8-0 in league play. The Scarlet Hawks also won the 2026 NACC Tournament, topping Edgewood by a 4-2 score. Illinois Tech advanced to the 2026 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship, falling to Luther by a 4-0 score in a first-round match.
MSOE's Ana Kamiyama swept the NACC's major student-athlete honors, being named both NACC Player of the Year and NACC Freshman of the Year.
Additionally, St. Norbert - under the direction of John Steckart - was recognized as the NACC Coaching Staff of the Year after the Green Knights finished second in the league standings (7-1).
New Coaches: There will be two new coaches in the NACC this fall.
Two-time NACC Player of the Year Ricki Budewitz is the interim head coach at Concordia Wisconsin, replacing Steve Anschutz, who stepped down after 15 years at the helm. Budewitz, who tops the NACC's all-time victories list with 170, was a six-time all-conference selection in both singles and doubles between 2018-2024. She led the Falcons to two NACC titles (2022, 2023) and three NACC Tournament titles (2021, 2023, 2024).
Kendall Pliner, a former Marian softball and tennis student-athlete, returns to lead the Sabres' program.
Fall 2026 Schedule: Edgewood will be the first program to get underway, facing Dubuque and Loras this Saturday (Aug. 29) in a pair of matches in Dubuque, Iowa. Illinois Tech follows with a neutral-site match against Cornell College Sunday at Rock Island, Illinois, while Concordia Wisconsin (vs. Carroll [Wis.]) and Marian (vs. Lawrence) host their openers on Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Concordia Chicago (vs. Lawrence) and Wisconsin Lutheran (vs. St. Ambrose) follow with their season-openers at home Friday, Sept. 4, while Edgewood hosts MSOE and Wisconsin Lutheran the following day to open the NACC slate. It will be the season opener for the Raiders.
St. Norbert will be the final NACC program to open its season, when it travels to MSOE for a NACC match on Saturday, Sept. 12.
NACC Tournament: The round-robin portion of the NACC slate is slated to conclude on Saturday, Oct. 17, with the top four programs in the final Fall 2026 standings advancing to next spring's NACC Women's Tennis Tournament. The tournament champion will receive the NACC's automatic berth in the 2027 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship.
2026 NACC Women's Tennis Preseason Poll
| Institution |
Points |
| Illinois Tech (12) |
120 |
| Edgewood (2) |
101 |
| St. Norbert (1) |
97 |
| Concordia Wisconsin (1) |
89 |
| MSOE |
73 |
| Wisconsin Lutheran |
46 |
| Concordia Chicago |
28 |
| Marian |
22 |