Friday, May 25, 2012

Day Two NCAA Individual Nationals

Today Kalla and Alexandra played in their quarterfinal match of the NCAA Individual Doubles Tournament. They were taking on Kristin Lim and Jessica Huang of Claremont Mudd Scripps. The match was supposed to start at 3:30pm, but because Kristin Lim was involved in a tough singles semifinals match the match got pushed back to 6:00pm. The match was put on live streaming on the NCAA.com and it was amazing all the support we were getting.

The match started off well for Kalla and Alexandra as they broke to go up 3-2 in the first set. Then after a long game CMS broke back to make it 3-3. Both teams held serve until the game at 5-5 when Kalla and Alexandra broke Jessica Huang's serve. This made the score 6-5 with Kalla serving for the match. CMS played a great game broke Kalla, and forced the first set into a tiebreaker. CMS started off strong in the breaker and never looked back winning it 7-4. Kalla and Alexandra went down 0-2 early in the second set only to come back to 1-2 then 2-3. Kalla and Alexandra won the next two games to make it 4-3. They then broke the next game to make the score 5-3. Alexandra then held to secure the second set by a score of 6-3.

At this point it looked like the momentum was on the Lady 'Hawks side, but CMS played great to start the third set going up 2-0. At this point CMS looked to be on a roll, but Kalla and Alexandra played 2 great games to pull the match even at 2-2. CMS and the Lady 'Hawks traded holds until 3-4 when after a long service game Kalla got broken. At 5-3 Kalla and Alexandra played a tough game and even saved one match point before Kristin Lim hit a laser down the middle for a winner and the match. The final score was 6-7(4), 6-3, 3-6.

This really was a great match by Kalla and Alexandra. They played strong throughout, and there were a lot of times they could have just gone away but they didn't. They played hard every point and we couldn't ask for more. There were a ton of momentum swings in this match, but Kalla and Alexandra hung tough the whole time. I would also like to thank everyone who watched the match live streaming or who followed us on twitter. I believe we have some of the best fans in Division III tennis and all of your continued support shows that.

Thanks again to everyone for a great season, and we will see you all next year!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Day One NCAA Individual Nationals

Today was the first day of the NCAA Individual National Singles and Doubles tournament. Kalla Schaefer qualified for singles, and Kalla and Alexandra Bayliss qualified as a doubles team. This is the second time under Coach Barnes' that the Lady 'Hawks have qualified for the Individual tournament (The first time was Kalla Schaefer in the '08-'09 season). The tournament is taking place this year in Cary, NC at the Cary Tennis Park, one of the most beautiful public tennis facilities in the nation.

The first match of the day was Kalla's singles match against the 2 seed and defending national champion, Kristin Lim of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Kalla knew it would be a tough match, but she came out ready for the challenge. Kalla drew first blood breaking Lim in the first game, but her opponent was not going away that easy as she won the next four games to go down one break. The two then traded serve games until the set was over at 6-3. Kalla was playing well, and her style was something Lim was not used to. At the end of the first set it looked like Kalla was going to really test Lim in the second set. Unfortunately Lim settled into the match, and was able to pull out all of the close games to win the second set 6-3, 6-0. Because the tournament is single elimination that means Kalla's singles season is over, but her an Alexandra's doubles match was still to come.

Later in the day Kalla and Alexandra took on the team of Padmanabhan/Kelly from Emory University. It's important to note that in the NCAA individual tournament doubles match are the best two of three sets not an eight game pro set like in a team match. Kalla and Alexandra played well from the start going up 2-0, but Emory was not going to go away that easy and they leveled the match at 2-2. That's when Kalla and Alexandra really started to click. They took the next 4 straight games, and took the first set 6-2. In the second set they went up 2-0 again, but Emory broke Kalla in a really long game to make the score 2-1. Right after the game it looked like Emory may have stolen some of the momentum, but Kalla and Alexandra won the next two games to make it 4-1. After a hold by each team the score was 5-2. Kalla and Alexandra then broke to win the match by a final score 6-2, 6-2.

This is a great win by Kalla and Alexandra, and they now advance to the Quarterfinals where they will take on Kristin Lim and Jessica Huang from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps tomorrow May 25th. The match will start no earlier than 3:00pm. There is a chance that the match could be streamed live online, but we won't know that until the ladies receive their court assignment. I will make sure to update twitter with the link if their match is being streamed live. If you would like to view the draw and use live scoring click here.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Warhawk Men"s and Women's Season Ends in NCAA Regionals

This last weekend the Warhawk Men's and Women's teams ended their seasons in the NCAA Regional Round. The Men advanced to the Round of 32, while the Women advanced to the Round of 16 for the 2nd time in the past 3 years.

The Men had the great privilege of hosting the NCAA Regional, the Women on the other hand headed down to Chicago for their regional. Both the Men and Women were 3 seeds in their regional.

Both teams on Friday took on the winners of the Northern Athletic Conference. For the men that was Concordia University (WI) and for the Women that was Wisconsin Lutheran College. Both opponents were tough, but the Warhawks pulled out the 5-0 victory in each match.

On Saturday the Men took on Gustavus Adolphus and the Women took on Washington University (MO). Both teams had faced their opponents before in the regular season with different results. The Men notched their first victory over Gustavus in program history 5-4, and the Women lost a nail bitter to Wash U at the Midwest Invite 5-4. These were both tough match-ups, but the Men and Women were up to the task.

The Women were scheduled to play at 10:00am and the Men at 2:00pm so the players were keeping up with how the other team was doing all Saturday.

For the first match up of the day the Warhawk Women took on Wash U. As I mentioned earlier Wash U beat our ladies at the Midwest invite, and I know all the ladies wanted to win this one. Doubles started off well at 1 and 2 doubles, but 3 doubles was a different story. 3 doubles fell down an early break in their match 0-3, and it wasn't looking good, but Megan Kasten and Lauren Aguilar played great to get the match back to 4-3. The 2 doubles matched played out exactly like the 2 doubles match at the Midwest Invite with Annie Smith and Sydney Divelbiss taking an early 4-0 lead only to see Wash U creep back in. At 1 doubles the match was much closer than the one at the Midwest Invite. Wash U was hanging tough in every point and trading break for break. After their slow start at 3 doubles Kasten and Aguilar stormed back to win 8-5 (A match they lost earlier in the year 8-3). 2 doubles withstood the barrage by their opponents to win 8-4. At this point all eyes turned to 1 doubles which was tight till the last minute. Both teams knew how important this last doubles match would be, either UWW takes a large 3-0 lead or a less daunting 2-1 lead. After a great tie break from Kalla and Alexandra the Lady 'Hawks had the 3-0 lead heading into singles. The match was not over yet though, and the ladies knew they would have to play their best if they wanted to win this match. Early on things were looking good at every court except 1 singles where Wash U's player was just too tough. She ended up beating Scheafer in straight sets. Bayliss and Kasten then came through big time for the Lady 'Hawks with their wins at 4 and 5 singles clinching the overall match 5-1.

Just as the Women's match in Chicago was ending the Men's match was set to begin in Whitewater. There was great support for the Men's team from family, friends, and former players. From what I've been told the crowd really got the Wangerin Courts bumping. In doubles the Gusties jumped out to an early lead at 1 and 2 doubles, and 3 doubles was close. At one point 1 doubles was down 3-7 only to storm all the way back to 8-7. 2 doubles also fought back from an early deficit to take the match 8-6, and 3 doubles played well but just couldn't come up with it in the end falling 8-5. At this time all eyes were on 1 doubles which was coming down to a tiebreaker. Both teams knew how important this match would be since it gave the winner the 2-1 lead going into singles. In the end Gustavus ended up pulling out the victory. The 'Hawks knew they had some adversity to overcome, but they were up to the task. Unfortunately so was Gustavus. They came to play at every position, and took the first sets at 1 through 6 singles. Not long after that the Gusties had clinched the win with victories at 3, 5, and 6 singles. This capped the 5-1 win for the Gusties and concluded the Warhawk Men's season.

The Women's season was not done yet though, after beating the number 11 team in the nation to advance to the Sweet 16 they had to face the regional host, number one seed, and number 2 ranked team in the country, The University of Chicago. The lady 'Hawks knew they needed strong doubles play to contend with Chicago, and as the match started they brought the energy. 2 doubles went out to an early 2-0 lead, and 1 doubles was close to breaking Chicago's first 3 service games. 3 doubles didn't start out so well though and fell behind early. 2 doubles ended up losing that early lead, and fought hard the whole match losing 8-3. 1 doubles couldn't convert on those early break chances as well and fell 8-3. 3 doubles after their slow start that saw them in a 6-1 deficit had clawed back to trail 7-5, and after a long game Chicago took the match 8-5. Even though the ladies weren't able to pull out one fo the doubles they felt they could still get in done in singles. There were close matches at 3, 4, and 6 singles, but in the end the Maroons were just too tough taking 1 and 5 singles to get the 5-0 win. This lost meant the end for the ladies season.

With the teams' seasons over it is a great time to reflect on some of the things these teams have done. The men had some great victories including a 5-4 win over then ranked number 11 University of Chiacgo, and the first ever win in program history over Gustavus. The Women also accomplished a lot this year beating some traditional powerhouse teams and their only loses in Division 3 this year came to teams ranked 1, 2, and 3 in the central region (They avenged that number 3 loss to Wash U). Overall this was one of the best years in Warhawk Tennis History and I look forward to the history next year's teams will make.

Don't forget to support Kalla Schaefer and Alexandra Bayliss as they head down to North Carolina for the NCAA Individual Championships. Kalla has qualified for singles, and her and Alexandra qualified for doubles. Play begins Thursday at 10:00am for singles, and 4:00pm for doubles.

I will be sure to post pictures from the Tournament soon. Thank you to everyone for their continued support throughout the season!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Andy McGlashen Game Ball Interview

Sorry for the delay, but I was finally able to sit down with Warhawk Junior to talk about his game ball performance from the Men's trip to Iowa on 4/28 and 4/29. Check it out!



Wednesday, May 9, 2012

'Hawks host Men's NCAA Regional Tournament, Lady 'Hawks travel to Chicago

Starting this Friday both the Men's and Women's tennis teams will be playing in the NCAA Division III Tennis Tournament. For the Men this is especially important because they will be hosting the NCAA regional. The Women won't be too far away though. They will be traveling to Chicago to play in the regional hosted by the University of Chicago.

With both the Men and Women being very close we ask as many of our fans as possible to come out and support the 'Hawks and Lady 'Hawks. Many of you have been so tremendous in your support this year and it is a huge boost whenever we can get a great crowd out to support the teams.

The Men play Concordia University (WI) in their first match Friday at 1:30pm and the Women play their first match against Wisconsin Lutheran University Friday at 10:00am. The Men's matches will be taking place at UWW's outdoor courts, and the Women will be playing their matches at the outdoor courts at the University of Chicago (Courts are off of 56th and Cottage Grove Ave.). If the Men win they play Gustavus Adolphus at 2:00pm Saturday. If the Women can get past their first opponent they will be taking on Wash U Saturday at 10:00am.

If you are in the area please come out and support the 'Hawks as they attempt to advance through the NCAA tournament!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Jackie Vitale Game Ball Interview

Here is the interview with our Game Ball winner from the Women's WIAC Final Four Automatic Qualifier, Jackie Vitale.


Congrats Jackie!