This season, the Holy Cross women’s tennis team captured their fourth consecutive Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship. That title earned the Saints the right to travel to Mobile, Ala., on Wednesday for the NAIA Tournament, where they were bested 4-3 by in-state foe Goshen.
The Saints finished the regular season as the No. 19 team in the country with an 8-5 record, a nice end to the year after starting the campaign 2-4. The team faced key injuries to start the season, and part of their ability to finish the season so strongly can be attributed to the return of key players, most notably junior Nicole Martinez. Some players had to step into unfamiliar roles to start the year, and the team’s early season results showed some clear growing pains. However, head coach Eric Mahone had a lot of faith in his squad heading into the tournament, largely because of the uncomfortable spots some of his players had to be in to start the year.
“The success we’re about to have is going to be because, quite frankly, my number six and number seven girls got to play every match more than they ever would have,” he explained. He also elaborated that, “My freshman, Virginie [Francois], I think she clinched seven matches for us, and she never would’ve gotten that experience.”
The experience that some of the younger players on the team were able to pick up at the beginning of the season was very meaningful as the team entered the home stretch of the season. Holy Cross entered the tournament incredibly hot as they went 6-1 in the month of April, with its only loss coming to Chicago, who has earned 28 individual national titles since 1986. In the Saints’ wins, the team did not drop a single match, including a 4-0 sweep of Judson on April 22 to earn the conference crown. All told, heading into the NAIA Tournament, the Saints hadn’t dropped a point to NAIA competition since a 4-3 loss at Grace all the way back on March 19.
Despite the hot finish to the season, Holy Cross only earned the No. 19 seed, which is relatively low as only 24 teams make the tournament. However, Mahone is happy with this seed and is fine with being seeded lower than they could’ve been, saying, “We really like our position as kind of being the hunters when we know what our talent is.”
Although the Saints claimed a 4-3 win over Goshen back on March 7, the reverse result on Wednesday night did mark the end of their season. Despite the disappointment of that defeat, 2026 was yet another impressive season for Holy Cross women’s tennis. With the experience gained by underclassmen such as sophomore Sofia Rocha, who won her singles match on Wednesday, the future of the program remains bright.
