Warhawks win division3tennis.com Mascot Challenge!

 

Well Warhawk Tennis Fans, it's over and Willy came out victorious. I don't know about you, but this was a very long week. The voting was up and down throughout the week. When voting first started Tufts went out to a big lead, but we began to chip away. Then every night we would take the lead only to wake up with Tufts leading. That set up a furious amount of voting Sunday night that actually shut down the website periodically (It was crazy). Over 10,000 people voted total. Even though we don't walk away with any prize other than pride it is great to know that we have the best fan base in the country.

GO HAWKS!

Warhawks in the Finals of the www.division3tennis.com Mascot Challenge

Warhawk Tennis Fans,

You all did a great job of voting and we cruised into the finals, but now we are going up against a BIG opponent (literally this time we are taking on the Jumbos from Tufts). We really need your help again to show the nation how strong the Warhawk Nation is. Please take 5 seconds out of your day and vote at www.division3tennis.com.

GO 'HAWKS!

Warhawks Sydney Divelbiss and Byron Balkin featured in Warhawks Athletics Sportsmanship video

Check out this video featuring Sydney Divelbiss, Byron Balkin, and other Warhawk athletes as they talk about the importance of sportsmanship in sports and here at UW-Whitewater.

Warhawks into the Final Four of the division3tennis.com Mascot Challenge

Warhawk Tennis Fans,

You all have done a great job of supporting the 'Hawks and you've gotten us into the Final Four of the division3tennis.com Mascot Challenge, but we need your help again to advance. All you need to do is go to www.division3tennis.com and vote for the Warhawks. It only takes about 5 seconds, but let's show the nation that we have the best fans in the country!

New Issue of the Warhawk Monthly

Warhawk Tennis Fans,

There is a new issue of the Warhawk Monthly that just got released yesterday. Check it out! Tennis is featured in 4 different stories!

To view this months issue click the link below

Warhawk Monthly October 2012

Men and Women represented in Regional & National Polls

Last week the Men's and Women's Division III Fall ITA rankings were released and the Warhawks were well represented.

The Women finished the fall reason ranked 3rd in the region and 17th in the nation. Three Lady 'Hawks were ranked individually in the region for singles, Sydney Divelbiss, Alexandra Bayliss, and Jackie Vitale. Sydney is ranked 11th in the region and Alexandra and Jackie are tied for 25th in the region. Sydney and Alexandra also finished to fall season ranked 5th in the region for doubles.

On the Men's side the 'Hawks find themselves ranked 8th in the central region and 29th in the country. Only one 'Hawk is ranked in the top 25 in the region for singles, Ben Shklyar. Ben, a first year transfer from Cleveland State, is ranked 23rd in the region for singles. Two 'Hawk doubles teams are ranked however in the top 8 in the region, Balkin & Osborne (ranked 2nd) and Bayliss & Shklyar (ranked 8th). Byron and Mitch also received notice in the national doubles rankings ranking 8th in the nation.

To see the full men's rankings click here

To see the full women's rankings click here

Overall, these are great accomplishments for the teams and players. Both teams will have the spring season to see if they can get these rankings into contention to qualify for the NCAA individual singles and doubles tournaments (top 8 in the region for singles and top 4 in the region for doubles qualify). The men start their spring season Jan. 25th when they take on Northern Illinois University in Rockford, IL. The Women kick off their spring season with the ITA Indoor National Tournament March 1st in Greencastle, IN.

Sydney Divelbiss named WIAC Player of the Year

Congratulations Sydney Divelbiss on being named the 2012 WIAC player of the year! This is the second year the award has been in existence and it is the second year a Lady 'Hawk came home with the title (Kalla Schaefer in 2011). This year Sydney is 16-2 in singles play and 13-2 in doubles. Sydney went 5-0 at 1 singles and 1 doubles in conference this year, and her two losses came in the ITA tournament and at the Western Illinois Invite against scholarship schools. Apart from her great play Sydney has also served as a team captain, she has represented the women's tennis team in SAAC, and she was selected as a memeber of the 2012 WIAC sportsmanship team.

Congratulations Sydney!

Pictures from WIAC Women's Conference Tournament

Here are some pictures from the WIAC Women's Conference Tournament. Thanks Liz Bayliss for taking them. I would also like to thank all the fans who came out to support the Lady 'Hawks.

Women Take Home 6th Consecutive Conference Tournament Title

This weekend the Warhawk Women's Tennis team headed to Madison, WI to compete for their sixth consecutive conference title. Due to the great play by the team during the regular season the Lady 'Hawks had the number 1 seeds in every draw, but 3 doubles where they were given the 2 seed. Because of this all of our ladies would only play doubles on Saturday, and they wouldn't begin singles till Sunday. On Saturday all three of our doubles teams showed their strength dropping a total of 4 games in 4 matches. This included a great 8-1 win for Alexandra Bayliss and Sydney Divelbiss in the 1 doubles bracket against UW-Stevens Point, who almost defeated Bayliss and Syd in the regular season. At the end of Saturday all 3 Warhawk doubles teams were in the doubles final of their draw.

On Sunday the great play continued. First off for the Lady 'Hawks was Freshman Erika Williams at 6 singles who was going up against a player from UW-Eau Claire that gave Erika her first collegiate loss. Erika lost the first game but didn't drop another winning 6-1, 6-0, and avenging her loss from early that season. At 5 singles Lauren Aguilar was pushed in her first match vs. UW-Oshkosh, but eventually came out with the straight set win. Megan Kasten took her semifinal match against UW-Stevens Point without dropping a game. Jackie played great in her semifinal match at 3 singles winning 6-1, 6-0 in the 3 singles draw. Alexandra continued that great play dropping only 1 game in her semifinal match against UW-Oshkosh. Sydney followed suit as well and only dropped one game in her semifinal to UW-Stevens Point. This put all 6 Warhawk singles players in the finals.

At 6 singles Erika continued her great play with a 6-3, 6-2 win over UW-La Crosse. Lauren added a 6-3, 6-4 win over UW-La Crosse as well at 5 singles. Megan had a tough fought match, but took the 4 singles final 6-2, 6-2 over UW-Eau Claire. Jackie Vitale had a tough match at 3 singles. Her and her opponent were neck and neck the whole match, and it certainly was a tight one. Jackie took the first set 7-6(4), and it looked like she was positioned to take over the match. Her opponent got a break though to start the second set and some of the momentum was lost. Jackie ended up breaking back later in the set, and forced the second set to another tiebreaker. Jackie had a match point at 6-5, but couldn't come up with the shot and she ended up losing the next 3 points to lost the set 6-7(6). Again the second set started off with Jackie getting broken, but she wasn't going to go away. She fought back to 3-3, but her opponent kept coming up with the shots she needed at big moments and Jackie couldn't hold the next game. Finally Jackie's opponent from UW-Eau Claire won the deciding set 6-4, and the match was over. At the 2 singles final Alexandra dropped only 1 game against her opponent from UW-Eau Claire. At 1 singles it was a tough match from beginning to end. Sydney had beaten her opponent from UW-Eau Claire 6-1, 6-0 in the regular season, but her opponent was going to go down that easy this time. Eau Claire took the first set 5-7, and things looked good for them to win their second singles final of the tournament, but Sydney buckled down and didn't drop a game (Although every single one of them was tight).

At doubles, 2 and 3 doubles dominated only losing 4 total games between the two matches. 1 doubles had a great match up against UW-Eau Claire and they continued their great play winning 8-4 against a tough team.

Overall, this was a great conference tournament. The ladies only dropped 3 sets the whole weekend, and won 8 of the 9 flights at the tournament. I will be posting pictures very soon from the tournament, but as you can see all of our ladies were wearing pink socks, grips, etc. The Women's tennis team ended up raising $100 for the breast cancer charity GoPink! Thank you to all those who were kind enough to donate.

Next up for the Women is the ITA National Indoor Championships in Greencastle, IN on Mar. 1st 2013.

Women's Team to Support Breast Cancer Charity Go Pink! at Conference Tournament

The Women's Tennis Team will be wearing pink socks this Sunday at the WIAC Conference tournament at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in support of a local breast cancer charity, Go Pink. Go Pink is a charity located right here in Wisconsin whose mission is to "financially aide Wisconsin women currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer with medical bills, medication, transportation, utility bills, rent or bills related to their treatment".  Not only will the women be wearing pink socks but there will also be a drop box for fans to place donations to the charity if they would like to do so. Please come out and support the Lady 'Hawks Saturday and Sunday at Nielsen as they play for a very important cause.

If you would like to learn more about the charity Go Pink you can access their website by clicking here

Warhawks Host Free Middle School Clinic

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this last week the Warhawk Men's and Women's Tennis team took time out of their busy schedules to help teach some area kids the great game of tennis. Some of the kids had played before, and knew the basic fundamentals of the game. Others were brand new to the sport entirely, but no matter what their level everyone had a blast. I'd like to thank everyone involved for making this clinic such an enjoyable time. Here are some pictures from the clinics. Enjoy!

Mitch and Byron compete at the ITA Small College National Championships

This last weekend Mitch Osborne and Byron Balkin headed down to Mobile, AL to compete for UWW in the ITA Small College National Championships.

 The draw for the ITA Small College National Championships is made up of the winners of the ITA doubles tournaments from the 9 regions across the U.S. (The Northwest and Texas region play a play in match to determine who gets into the draw). Just to get to this point is an accomplishment itself. This is the second time in UWW Tennis history that the Men have sent someone down to Mobile to represent the 'Hawks. The last time the Warhawks won an ITA draw was in 2010 when Jake Macey and Erik Scanlan teamed up to win the ITA Midwest doubles draw. I was not able to be at the matches with the Gentlemen, soI thought I would let Frank inform you about their trip to Mobile instead.

"Play for Mitch and Byron began on Thursday, as doubles plays two afternoon matches on Day 1.  In their first match, they played a duo from Johns Hopkins.  This was a true battle as the first set was tight all the way through.  The Warhawks dropped the first set 5-7 after being up 40-15 in the 5-6 game trying to send it to a tiebreak.  In the seconds set, the set was nottted at 4-4 before Hopkins got the last two games to win the match.  Just a couple hours later, the Warhawks were back on the court, this time facing Emory's team.  The Hawks uncharacteristically started off slowly, falling down two breaks 4-1.  Then they woke up and went on a tear, evening it up and going to a first set tiebreak.  The Hawks did not get the breaks and fell short in that tiebreak.  Their hot streak that they started in the first set continued in the second set as the Hawks this time got up two breaks 4-1 before the match swung again.  Emory now went on a run and won the next 5 games to shock us all.

The Warhawk pair dug deep, and decided they really wanted their third and final match.  Their hard luck in close matches continued unfortunately however, and they lost their tightest match of all.  In the first set against Drew University in the 7th place match was a dead heat.  We had several break chances, but neither team was able to break serve and we lost the first set 7-6.  In the second set the Warhawks were down a break 4-1 but broke back twice to win 7-5.  It seemed we had all the momentum, but Drew got off to a quick start and never looked back in the tiebreak. It was upsetting for the guys to be just edged out in three consecutive close matches, but this tournament showed that all 8 teams down there were pretty darn close in ability. A couple big points were the difference in each match.  The guys should be proud of what they acheieved to be the top team from the Midwest representing their region.  We are all proud!!  The guys traditional season will start up in January and they will play through the end of May"-Frank Barnes

Lady 'Hawks win two duals vs. UW-River Falls and UW-Stout

This weekend the UWW Women's Tennis team headed to River Falls, WI and Menomonie, WI to take on two conference opponents, UW-River Falls and UW-Stout. Due to adverse weather conditions the matches were played on indoor surfaces that the Lady 'Hawks hadn't experienced yet this year, but the ladies rose to the challenge.

In the first match for against UW-River Falls the Lady 'Hawks used 8 players to capture a 8-1 victory over the Falcons. The lone loss of the day for the Lady 'hawks came at 3 doubles where Erika Williams and Hillary Franzen played a very long and tight match. Both teams had match points during the match. River Falls had one at 6-7 only to lose the next 3 points. Whitewater had a match point as well at 8-7, but couldn't come up with theirs either. This forced the match to a decisive breaker. River Falls pushed out to an early 1-4 lead in the breaker. Erika and Hillary made a comeback to get the tiebreaker to 3-4, but they couldn't cap off the comeback and lost the breaker 7-4.  Even though the ladies were slightly down after that match they knew that there was still work to do in singles, and all 6 ladies in singles came out ready to play. The 'Hawks cruised at the 1, 2, 3, and 6 singles spots, but 4 and 5 were a little tighter. After sitting out of doubles Lauren Aguilar came in to play 4 singles and was a little rusty to start the match winning the first set 7-5 before finding her stride to win the second 6-0. At 5 singles Erika Williams had a tough time with her opponent, but she showed the experienced she has gained throughout the year and won the match 6-3, 6-4. Here are some pictures from the River Falls match.

After playing against River Falls the Lady 'Hawks piled into the vans to head to Menomonie, WI to take on the Blue Devils at UW-Stout. Because of the weather the match was pushed back an hour. The ladies were looking for something to do, and as fate would have it the Warhawk football team was competing against UW-Stout as well. the ladies decided we should head out to support the football team before the match. The football team was up at half 27-7 and this inspired the ladies to have just as dominating a performance in their match. 

In doubles all 3 Warhawk teams won their match 8-1, this included a great match by Abby Day and Jess Vitale at 3 doubles. The Lady 'Hawks continued their dominance in singles. At the top 3 spots the ladies dropped 1 game. The bottom three spots were tighter but the Lady 'Hawks played well in all three including a great win from Kelsey Fitzgerald at 6 singles, 6-1, 6-1. This match showed off the depth of the Women's team as the ladies used 10 total players in the win.  The two wins conclude the Lady 'Hawks fall dual match season with an unblemished record at 10-0.

Here are some pictures from the UW-Stout match

For complete scores from both matches click here

Next up for the Lady 'Hawks is the WIAC conference tournament. The Lady 'Hawks received  the number 1 seed for all the singles draws so the ladies will only be playing doubles on Saturday. All singles and the conclusion of the doubles draws will take place on Sunday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, WI.

Photos from Women's Matches vs. UW-Stevens Point and Edgewood