Men's Team Takes on Six Matches in Four Days

This last weekend the Men's team started a stretch of six matches in four days. The first three matches of this stretch were a part of the WIAC Final Four. Since only their are only four schools that sponsor Men's tennis in the WIAC the Final Four serves as pseudo conference tournament. The first match of the Final Four pitted the UW-Whitewater Warhawks against the UW-Oshkosh Titans. This is the second time the 'Hawks played the Titans this season, and because of weather the match was forced indoors to Four Lakes Athletic Club.

This time against UWO Byron Balkin and Jake Humphreys sat out giving Laktash/Friend the opportunity at 3 doubles, and Brian Klein and Michael Schnarr the opportunity at 5 and 6 singles. In doubles the Warhawk 2 and 3 doubles teams of McGlashen/Bayliss and Laktash/Friend respectively came out firing and both took quick wins. At 1 doubles Osborne/Shklyar got broken in the first game, but broke back to get it to 1-1. UWO then broke and held again to take the 3-1 lead before Osborne held to make the score 3-2. At this point in the match the tensions were tight and it Oshkosh's team was making if difficult to put the ball away, but Shklyar/Osborne rose to the challenge, and ran off 5 straight games. UWO held one more time before the 'Hawks closed out the match 8-4. With the 3-0 lead the 'Hawks looked to keep the pressure on in singles. At 1 singles Ben Shklyar had two tight sets, but came away victorious. At 2 singles Andy won his first set in what seemed like 10 minutes, but his opponent came out firing in the second to make the match tighter but Andy was just too much and he took the match in straights as well. Klein and Schnarr both stepped up in their line-up opportunities and dropped a total of 3 games at 5 and 6 singles. Bayliss and Osborne both took their match in straight sets as well to finish off the 9-0 win for the 'Hawks. After that match the 'Hawks got ready for two matches the next day.

To see the complete results against UWO click here

The next morning the 'Hawks started off taking on UW-La Crosse. UWL is a vastly improved team after the additions of a Division I transfer and some talented recruits. Again 2 regular starters for the 'Hawks sat out, Andy McGlashen and Andrew Bayliss. This time the doubles team of Klein/Friend got the start at 3 doubles, and Cam Laktash and Max Hawksford got the opprotunity to play in the line-up at 5 and 6 singles respectively. Again the 'Hawks came out firing in doubles. This time Shklyar/Osborne didn't struggle early like the day before at 1 doubles and ran away with the match early winning 8-1. Balkin/Humphreys played well from the start as well winning 8-3 and Klein/Friend walked away from 3 doubles victorious 8-2. Again as singles started the 'Hawks held the 3-0 lead, but they knew there was still work that needed to be done. At 1 singles Shklyar faced a tough opponent who took out Balkin in the fall at ITA's. The fist set was a struggle featured a lot of breaks, but Ben came up with the hold when he needed it at 6-5 to close out the first set. After that he found another gear and took the second set 6-1. Jake Humphreys and Mitch Osborne both took care of their opponents at 3 and 4 singles respectively. Max Hawksford got a strong win as well winning 6-3, 6-4 at 6 singles over a tough opponent. Two 'Hawks needed three sets to over take their opponents, Balkin at 2 singles and Laktash at 5 singles. Even though both players had to go to a third set tiebreaker in their matches the way they got there was different. At 2 singles Balkin struggled early and his opponent took the first set 6-2, but Byron began to find his groove in the second set and he took the set 6-2. At 5 singles Laktash had control of the match taking the first set 6-4. Laktash was in control of the second set as well before his opponent took control and took the second set. Even though these two 'Hawks had different paths to their third set breakers both came away with a win, and the 'Hawks finished the match against UWL with a 9-0 win.

Less than an hour later the 'Hawks began their match against UW-Eau Claire. UW-Eau Claire in the only remaining WIAC team that has beaten UWW in the last seven years when the beat the 'Hawks in 2010. Needless to say this year's team was not going to overlook the talented Bluegolds. Again two regular starters for the 'Hawks were sitting. Originally it was supposed to be Ben Shklyar and Mitch Osborne, but due to back injury he suffered against La Crosse Byron Balkin was out and Osborne hopped back into the line-up. This time the doubles team of Laktash/Friend hopped back in at 3 doubles and Klein and Bisbee jumped into the 5 and 6 singles spots. McGlashen/Bayliss stepped up to play 1 doubles for this match, and they played well throughout to win 8-3. Mitch Osborne and Jake Humphreys teamed up together for the first time at 2 doubles, but they looked like they had been playing together for years winning 8-1. Laktash/Friend had a tough match against their opponents at 3 doubles, but they played well when it mattered the most winning 8-6. The 'Hawks then looked to close out the Final Four without dropping a match heading into singles. The 'Hawks took the first set at all 6 positions. Andy McGlashen and Matt Bisbee both had close sets at 1 and 6 singles respectively but both played walked away form the first set victorious 7-5. Jake Humphreys and Brian Klein played well in both sets and both players dropped a total of 1 game in their two matches. Mitch Osborne and Andrew Bayliss both finished with straight set victories. Andy McGlashen closed out his second set after winning the first, but Matt Bisbee was not as lucky dropping his second set. This would mean Bisbee's match would head to a third set breaker. Both players played extremely well in the breaker. It was long one as well and both players had match points, but Bisbee's opponent came up big in the end taking the match 5-7, 6-3, 13-11. With the 8-1 win over UWEC the 'Hawks improved their record against WIAC opponents over the last 8 years to 37-1.

To see the complete results against UWL and UWEC click here

Normally after a great weekend like that the players would have the time to relax and recopperate, but there's was no rest for the 'Hawks as Sunday they had Kalamazoo coming into town. Last year the 'Hawks headed to Kalamazoo and came away with a tough 1-8 loss. The 'Hawks have only beat Kalamazoo once in school history and the team came out looking good. Again due to bad weather the matches were moved indoors to Four Lakes Athletic Club. In doubles all 3 teams came out on fire. In fact, it was probably our best doubles performance of the year. Our movement was great, but better than that we exceled at the fundamentals of doubles. On all three courts the players were doing great on their serves, returns, and first volleys and it really showed. Shklyar/Osborne took 1 doubles 8-3, McGlashen/Bayliss took 2 doubles 8-4, and Balkin/Humphreys didn't drop a game winning 8-0. Even though the 'Hawks lead 3-0 after doubles they knew how strong Kalamazoo was at singles. Andy McGlashen kept the 'Hawks winning ways going at 3 singles winning 6-3, 6-0 to give the 'hawks the 4-0 lead. Byron Balkin was the second 'Hawk off the court, but he wasn't as fortunate falling 3-6, 3-6 to a big hitting baseliner. That would be the last match the 'Hawks dropped as Ben Shklyar, Jake Humphreys, Andrew Bayliss, and Mitch Osborne all picked up straight set wins at 1, 4, 5, and 6 singles respectively. This was a great win for the 'Hawks especially after the beating Kalamazoo gave us last year.

To see the complete results against Kalamzoo College click here

On Monday the 'Hawks finished their last two matches of this daunting stretch. The first was against Illinois Wesleyan. Ben Shklyar had to sit out due to a make-up exam, but the 'Hawks took care of business without him. Again McGlashen/Bayliss played 1 doubles and they took control from the start winning 8-3. Balkin/Humphreys showed up in strong fashion winning 8-1 at 2 doubles, and Osborne/Friend teamed up for their second time this year to win 8-0 at 3 doubles. In singles the 'Hawks continued to take care of business. Osborne was the first one off the court after winning the first two games his opponent defaulted due to injury. Jake Humphreys and Andrew Bayliss both took home 6-0, 6-0 victories at 3 and 4 singles respectively, and Brina Klein picked up at 6-0, 6-1 victory at 6 singles. McGlashen struggled early in both of his sets falling behind a break in both set 3-4 before taking the last 3 games in each set to win the match 6-4, 6-4. Balkin had a tough first set, but he came out victorious 6-3, and found his mojo to take the second set 6-1. This capped off the 9-0 victory for the 'Hawks.

Up next for the 'Hawks was Edgewood College. None of the regular starters played in this match and instead many of the bench players got a chance to shine. Friend/Laktash stepped up to play one singles, and were on fire from the start winning 8-0. Klein/Bisbee also played well from the start winning 8-0 at 2 doubles, and Worley/Schnarr added a good victory at 3 doubles, 8-3. The 'Hawks continued their strong play in singles dropping a total of 11 games in 6 matches. The highlight of the night was Brian Klein who battled a strong opponent at 1 singles to come away with the 6-1, 6-4 win. Overall this was a great opportunity for these players to get line-up experience, and I'm very happy with how they handled this oppeotunity.

To see the complete results from the IWU and Edgewood matches click here

Not only did the 'Hawks come away victorious in these six tennis matches, but two intramural teams featuring players from both the men's and women's teams came away victorious on Monday night. The first was a coed soccer team that won a thriller in overtime, and the second was our men's tennis softball team, who won by slaughter rule in the 4th inning up 27-9. Four 'Hawks came up big in softball hitting home-runs including Byron Balkin, Mitch Osborne, Erik Scanlan, and yours truly.

Overall, it was a great weekend for the 'Hawks, and personally I hope to not have to do many stretches like that in the future (I'm tired). It's great though to see our team clicking at this time in the year though. Earlier in the season the men's team took a beating against some higher ranked opponents, and it's good to see the team coming together and playing well despite struggling earlier this year. Up next for the Men are the final two regular season matches Sunday 4/28 against Coe, and Elmhurst. Both matches are taking place at UWW. The 'Hawks will play Coe at 10am and Elmhurst at 2pm.

Here are some more pictures from this weekend as well.