ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Opponents for a day but teammates for life. Rena Lin and fellow UChicago Maroon Sylwia Mikos went one-on-one for the biggest individual prize that the NCAA has to offer in D-III tennis when the two wrapped up the women's portion of the NCAA Championships in Missouri.

"We knew that win or lose, it would be a victory for UChicago, so playing for our school in this match also meant playing for each other," said Lin when asked about seeing her teammate on the other side of the net. "Sylwia is the best sport I know, and it was just great to play a match I knew was going to be drama-free and good tennis. Every time I looked at her across the net, I felt so proud of her and everything we achieved together this year."

Mikos echoed those sentiments. "It honestly put me at ease. She is such an amazing person, someone I look up to, and an incredible competitor. I was just grateful to be on the court with her. Knowing that regardless of who won, each of us truly deserved the trophy made it even more enjoyable."

Lin, a graduate student and the top seed in women's singles, took the first set by a 6-0 score but Mikos wouldn't back down to her teammate so easily. The fifth seeded junior fought as hard as she could in the second set and battled to a tiebreak in trying to push things to three frames. Lin was able to fend off her squad mate however and ended the match with a 7-3 conclusion to the 7-6 set win.

When asked after the match, Lin spoke about the change in tone when switching formats but how it was still important to give it her all. "Coming off the team championships, it was a bit difficult to switch gears and play what were comparatively very quiet, individualized contests. But since these were my last college tennis matches, I wanted to give it my all, especially since I was still wearing UChicago on my chest. I'm really excited that Sylwia and I were able to bring two more trophies back to Chicago, and it was just a perfect way to wrap up the week."

"Losing to Rena was bittersweet," said Mikos. "I'm sad I lost, but if I had to lose to anyone, I'm glad it was her. We made history together this week as the first women's team at UChicago to win an NCAA title, and I couldn't have asked for a better experience."

Regardless of who won the match, they were going to make history again. Just days after winning the first team title in program history, women's tennis now has their first individual national champion to go along with two doubles national titles that came during the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

"Sylwia and Rena dug so deep all week and proved why they're two of the best competitors in all of college tennis," said head coach Jay Tee. "They could have been satisfied with themselves after the team title and had one foot back in Chicago, but they persevered and made history together. I'm so happy for Rena to find her love for tennis and go out on top and I'm just so thrilled for Sylwia that she re-found her fight and her confidence when it mattered most."

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