The NIU tennis team topped off a day of sunshine and warm temperatures with an overwhelming 7-2 victory over Wheaton College Wednesday.

“We are hitting hard and being more consistent,” third-year coach Patty Fick said. “I have seen some big-time improvement.”

The only defeat NIU suffered in the singles competition was by No. 1 player LeeAnne Milne, who lost to Wheaton’s Claudra Bessey 6-0, 7-5.

NIU winners included Torrey Lott over Kim Rasmussen 6-0, 6-2; Amy Andersen defeated Suzie Stover 6-1, 6-3; senior Sari Dinerman beat Stacey Baker 6-2, 6-3; Heidi VanLankvelt defeated P. Bandy 6-3, 6-2; and Kris Whitney won over Shannon Menton 6-1, 6-1.

“Sari is coming off an ankle sprain and has moved down in singles and doubles,” Fick said. “It hasn’t been a negative, however, because of our depth.”

Doubles competition also proved to be successful for the Huskies. Lott and Dinerman defeated Bandy and Baker 6-2, 6-2, while VanLankvelt and Whitney beat Menton and Stover 6-1, 6-7. NIU’s sole doubles loss came from the dual teammates of Milne and Andersen, who lost to Bessey and Rasmussen 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.

“Wheaton has really turned its program around in the past two years,” Fick said. “They proved to be a lot tougher than we thought.”

Fick said she is pleased with the depth of her team and said the future looks even better. She said she has signed four top recruits for next year.

Two foreign players and two Americans have signed. The signers include No. 1 Belgium tennis player Natacha Kluft, No. 18 seed Canadian Lisa Bodecker, 13th-ranked Natasha Koprivica from Texas and Kathy Kennedy from Calumet City, Ill.

“We should be awesome next year,” Fick said. “We will only lose two players from this season.”

Fick said she got Kluft’s attention through an ex-NIU tennis player.

“Five years ago Jackie Rotsaert came to NIU and she told Kluft about NIU,” Fick said.

NIU (10-8) will be traveling this weekend. Friday night the team will compete against Ohio and on Saturday it will play at Miami-Ohio.

“They (Miami-Ohio) will be our toughest competition this weekend,” Fick said. “Hopefully we will be able to play outdoors, because it has been snowing there.”

Overall, Fick said she is very happy with her team’s performance this year. She did say she hopes the team can improve on its intensity level.

“Our level of intensity has to stay up until the very last point of the match,” Fick said. “Some players can do that and others still have to work on it.”