Horizon League Moments: UIC Women's Tennis

Note: With the Horizon League celebrating the 10th anniversary of its name change, the League will be looking back at 10 significant moments from the last 10 years. 

It started innocently enough, with a 5-1 win over Northern Illinois in the 1997 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Women's Tennis Championship. It continued through the rebranding of the MCC, capturing the first Horizon League Women's Tennis Championship in 2002. Now, the UIC women's tennis program has run its streak of League titles to 15 years, one of the top streaks in all of intercollegiate athletics.

Since 2000, UIC has taken nine Horizon League Player of the Year awards, with Mariya Kovaleva becoming the first player in League history to claim three such honors with the 2011 award. Shannan Fennema began the overall conference championship streak in 1997, with Mary Dailey guiding the Flames to League titles in 2000 and 2001. Current head coach Shannon Tully took the reigns from Dailey and has guided the Flames to an undefeated League mark in her 10 seasons.

Under Tully, UIC has won 100 consecutive matches in League play, the longest active conference winning streak, in any sport, in the country. In total, UIC has won 133 straight Horizon League matches, dating back to 1996.

Since the League named a player of the year beginning in 2000, seven different UIC women have earned the honor, while six Flames have taken home Newcomer of the Year accolades. Tully has received the League's Coach of the Year award eight times in her 10 years at UIC.

The next step for the Flames will come in the NCAA Tournament, where UIC is still looking for its first victory.