Women's ITA's

This weekend the Whitewater Women's Tennis team traveled to St. Peter. MN to participate in the ITA Regional Tournament. This is a terrific tournament that features all of the top teams in the Midwest. Last year one of the Lady 'Hawks, Kalla Schaefer, took home both the singles and doubles titles (with Alexandra Bayliss) in the main ITA draw. This year the Lady 'Hawks came in working very hard trying to repeat those results, and their played showed all the hard work they have been putting in.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, there are two separate tournaments that are played at the ITA Regional. The first one is the ITA tournament which this year featured the top 6 singles players from UWW and the top 5 doubles teams. The second tournament is the Midwest Invite which featured the remaining 9 Lady 'Hawks and 2 doubles teams. This year the Midwest Invite singles was broken up into 6 different draws of 16, and the Lady 'Hawks took 4 of those draws. Freshman Ashley Miller, junior Hillary Franzen, junior Kelsey Fitzgerald, and senior Kelly Foster all won their draws. They had to play some stiff competition along the way, and they all showed great play and determination to win those draws. Juniors Abby Day and Jess Vitale both made the semis of their draw. Jess had to withdraw due to a wrist injury, but Abby lost in a tough 3 set match.Caitlin Fitzgerald lost her first match in a third set tiebreaker, but played strong in consolation. Caitlin won her first two consolation matches and in the final of the consolation draw fought back from begin down 2-7 to bring the score back to 7-7 (They were playing 8 game pro sets). Unfortunately her terrific comeback feel a little short and she lost 7-9. Freshmen Kristin Zeilinger and Maddie Benhoff both played terrific in their matches, but came up just a little short. The doubles draw of the Midwest Invite featured two UW-Whitewater teams, Kelsey Fitzgerald/Ashley Miller and Caitlin Fitzgerald/Maddie Benhoff. Kelsey and Ashley won their first match before meeting a tough team in the second round. Caitlin and Maddie on the other hand continued to play great match after match and found themselves in the finals of the doubles draw. Unfortunately their opponents were just too strong and they lost 2-8.

In the ITA doubles draw several Warhawk teams played well. Sydney Divelbiss and Alexandra Bayliss came into the tournament as the number 2 seed, but were upset in the first round in a tiebreaker by a team from UW-La Crosse. After that loss Syd and Alexandra rebounded well to win the ITA doubles consolation draw, winning the final 8-0. Partners Megan Kasten and Jackie Vitale played great in their first 2 matches beating some tough teams, and found themselves up against the number 1 seed in the quarterfinals. It was a back and forth match with great hitting by both teams, but unfortunately the team from Coe took the match 8-9(3). Lauren Aguilar and Kelly Foster also had a great doubles tournament making the quarterfinals and beating several tough teams in the process before falling 1-8 to the 3 seed from Eau Claire. Abby Day and Jess Vitale won their first round against St. Thomas, but couldn't come up with the shots they needed in their next match falling 3-8 to a team from Gustavus. Erika Williams and Hillary Franzen found themselves up against a tough opponent in the first round. They fell behind early but then they turned it on towards then end. Unfortunately they couldn't dig themselves out of the hole they had put themselves into. After that loss they moved into the consolation draw where they had two good victories before they came up against Divelbiss and Bayliss of UWW (one of the only UWW vs. UWW match-ups of the weekend). Erika and Hills played great going up 5-1 only to see Alexandra and Syd regain their form to win 8-5.

In singles of the ITA the first round featured many great matches from the Lady 'Hawks. Jackie Vitale, Megan Kasten, and Erika Williams all were in extremely long first round matches. Jackie lost her first set in a tiebreaker to the 5 seed from UW-Eau Claire, but then settled down to win the final two sets 6-0, 6-3. Megan Kasten came up against the 4 seed from Gustavus and after losing the first set 3-6 won the second 6-2. At this point her match was a battle and the 3rd set was highly contested. Unfortunately Megan couldn't come up with the big points when she needed them and lost the match, but the match must have been 3 hours long. Erika Williams found herself in a long match as well. After she dropped the first set 6-7 (8-10) she came back to win the second 7-6 (7-5) before falling in the third set 4-6. Sydney Divelbiss, Alexandra Bayliss, and Lauren Aguilar all won their first 2 matches quickly and got ready to play Saturday. After the end of the first day the Lady 'Hawks had 4 players in the round of 16 (Sydney Divelbiss, Alexandra Bayliss, Jackie Vitale, and Lauren Aguilar). Erika also advanced in the consolation draw to the round of 16 as well. Megan Kasten had to pull out of consolation because of a ankle injury.

On Saturday the Lady 'Hawks started off great in their round of 16 matches. 3 of the 4 ladies in the round of 16 advanced to the quarterfinals. The only Lady 'Hawk to not advance to the quarterfinals was Lauren Aguilar who fell to one of the toughest players to beat in the draw Tai Lucero from Coe. Tai then took out Sydney Divelbiss in the quarters. Alexandra Bayliss came up against the 3 seed from Carleton, Bridget Doyle. After dropping the first set 6-7 Alexandra came back to win the second set 6-0 before a battle ensued for the third set. The games went back and forth, but Alexandra's opponent from Carleton took the final set in a tiebreaker. Jackie played great in her quarterfinal match and advanced to the semis of the ITA draw to take on Doyle who had just beaten Bayliss. Erika Williams also played in the consolation draw on Saturday and beat two tough players to advance to the consolation semifinals on Sunday. In the consolation semifinals Erika faced Taylor Heltne who lost to Jackie in the first round. Erika dropped a quick first set, but found her form in the second losing in a breaker. This was a great tournament from Erika, she beat some good players and really pushed some great ones to the limit.

After that Jackie was the only Lady 'Hawk left in the tournament and she took on Bridget Doyle in the semifinal of the ITA draw. Jackie went up 3-0 in the first set and she never looked back. Anytime Doyle would make a run she would answer back, and she never trailed in the match. Jackie won that match 6-3, 6-3 to earn her a spot in the finals of the ITA singles draw. Jackie was set to face Laura Krull of Grinnell in the final a number 9 seed in the draw. Jackie played great in the match, but her opponent was too tough. Jackie dropped the first set 3-6 and mounted a comeback at 2-5 to make the score 4-5, but it just wasn't enough and she lost the match 3-6, 4-6. Jackie is only the second Lady Warhawk to make the finals of the ITA tournament and it was a tremendous accomplishment (The bag check must have been good luck).

Overall it was a great tournament for all the Lady 'Hawks. This was one of the best overall tournaments for our team that I've ever been a part of. I believe this was one of the first times we've had 3 players in the quarterfinals of singles and 2 doubles teams in the quarterfinals of doubles. Next up for the Lady 'Hawks are matches against UW-Stevens Point and Edgewood at UW-Whitewater on Wednesday at 3:30pm and 6:30pm respectively.

To see the full draws from either tournament this weekend click here

Jackie Vitale Bag Check

The Bag Checks are back for the 2012-2013 season, and we kick it all off with Jackie Vitale

Pictures and video from UW-La Crosse and Wheaton Matches

Here are some pictures from the Women's matches against UW-La Crosee and Wheaton. Thanks Liz Bayliss!

Here is a video of some of our doubles matches as well from both matches. Check out the Lauren fist pump at the end.

Women's Matches vs. UW-La Crosse and Wheaton College

This weekend the UW-Whitewater Women's tennis team headed down to Wheaton, IL to play two tough opponents, The University of Wisconsin La Crosse and Wheaton College. Both teams have been historically tough and Wheaton beat the Lady 'Hawks the last time they traveled to Wheaton so our girls knew they would be in for two battles.

The first match of the day for the Lady 'Hawks was against UW-La Crosse. La Crosse got several good new players in this year and return a good number of their players for last year. In doubles, all of the Lady 'Hawk doubles teams got off to a good start getting an early break in every match. those proved to be enough as the Lady 'Hawks won all three doubles matches to take a 3-0 lead heading into singles. All of the ladies played tremendously in their first sets. Jackie Vitale had the closest first set winning 6-4. Jackie showed a lot of mental toughness in the first set. She was up 5-2 before her opponent put together 2 tough games to make the set score 5-4, but Jackie found her mojo and won the set. No Lady 'Hawk dropped more than 1 game in the second set to close out the 9-0 victory over UW-La Crosse. For individual match scores click here.

The Lady 'Hawks weren't able to rest after that great match tough. The girls had to prepare against a tough regionally ranked opponent in Wheaton College. The doubles started off strong for the Lady 'Hawks again all 3 doubles teams jumped out to early breaks. Wheaton kept fighting in every doubles match, but the Lady 'Hawks were just too tough again and pulled out all 3 doubles matches. With all 3 doubles matches won by the Lady 'Hawks they turned to singles to close out the victory and avenge the 405 loss they suffered 2 years ago. The ladies played strong again in singles including great wins by Alexandra Bayliss at 2 singles, Jackie Vitale at 3 singles, Megan Kasten at 4 singles, and Lauren Aguilar at 5 singles. Together these 4 ladies dropped a total of 10 games in their 8 sets. The 1 and 6 singles spots were the toughest for the Lady 'Hawks. Abby Day has been playing great this season and earned herself a shot at the 6 singles spot against Wheaton. Her opponent was a new freshman but she was extremely tough. Abby fought the whole match, but just couldn't come up with the offense when she need it and she fell 2-6, 0-6. The 1 singles match was extremely long and extremely entertaining. Sydney Divelbiss found herself playing almost a mirror copy of herself. Sydney won a long first et 6-4, but her opponent captured the momentum in the second set, and forced the match to a decisive third set tiebreaker. Sydney played lights out at the beginning of the tiebreaker and never looked back winning the third set tiebreaker 10-2. This capped off a terrific 8-1 victory for the Lady 'Hawks. For individual match scores click here.

These were two great victories over tough teams for the Lady 'Hawks. These two victories push the Lady 'Hawks record on the season to 5-0, and it's great to see all the ladies step up to fill the voids left by the departures of Kalla Schaefer and Annie Smith. Next up for the Lady 'Hawks is the ITA Tournament in St. Peter, MN next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Last year the Lady 'Hawks won the singles and doubles draw to send 2 players down to Mobile, AL to represent the Midwest. It will be tough to repeat those results, but I know our ladies will work hard all week to do so.

Pictures from Women's Matches vs. Beloit and Lake Forest

Thank you Liz Bayliss

Pictures from Men's Western Illinois Invite

Here are some pictures from the Men's Invite at Western Illinois University. Thanks Liz Bayliss for taking the pictures

Women's Matches vs. Beloit College and Lake Forest College

On Sunday the Warhawk Women's Tennis team traveled to Lake Forest, IL for two matches against Midwest Conference opponents Beloit College and Lake Forest College. These two matches presented the Warhawks a great opportunity to get a lot of players many matches. Overall on Sunday the Lady 'Hawks utilized a total of 11 different singles players and 6 different doubles team.

In the first match against Beloit College the Warhawks started strong losing only 8 total games to take the 3-0 lead. Syndey Divelbiss and Alexandra Bayliss won 8-1 at 1 doubles, and Abby Day and Jess Vitale won 8-1 at 2 doubles. Freshman Maddie Benehoff and Kristin Zeilinger won their first collegiate match 8-6 at 3 doubles. In the singles the Warhawks continued their strong play. Jackie Vitale recorded the first 1 singles victory of her career with a 6-0, 6-0 victory. Megan Kasten won 6-1, 6-0 at 2 singles. Lauren Aguilar posted a victory at 3 singles winning 6-0, 6-1. Hillary Franzen notched a 6-0, 6-0 victory at 4 singles. Kelly Foster also didn't relinquish a game at 5 singles winning 6-0, 6-0. Kelsey Fitzgerald finished off the 9-0 victory for the 'Hawks with a 6-3, 6-0 victory at 6 singles. Caitlin Fitzgerald and Kristin Zeilinger also notched exhibition singles victories.

The second match against lake Forest did not start off a good for the Lady 'Hawks. The Forresters were ready to play, and they brought a crowd that made for a tough environment. Megan Kasten and Lauren Aguilar were down 1-4 at 1 doubles before fighting back to win 7 of the last 8 games of the match. Jackie Vitale and Kelly Foster were in a tight match at 2 doubles as well. The match was back and forth for the first 5 games before the Lady 'Hawks ran away with it to secure the 8-3 win. Number 3 doubles was difficult as well. Freshman Caitlin Fitzgerald teamed up with her sister Kelsey Fitzgerald for the first time in their career. Caitlin and Kelsey found themselves down 1-4 to start the match, but fought back to get the match to 4-5. Lake Forest then stepped up their game to stretch the lead to 7-4. After a great hold by Cailtin, the Fitzgerlad sisters fought hard, but couldn't come up with the break losing the match 5-8. It was great to head into singles with the 2-1 lead considering how tough Lake Forest came out to start the match. Sydney Divelbiss played 1 singles and won her match over a tough opponent 6-1, 6-2. Alexandra Bayliss had a tough match at 2 singles the match featured some great points, but Alexandra eventually won it 6-1, 6-1. Erika Williams played a great match at 3 singles and won 6-2, 6-3. Abby Day found herself down 2-5 to start the match at 4 singles before taking the next 4 games to take the 6-5 lead. Her opponent found her game again to force a first set breaker where Abby dominated to win 7-3. After that it was all Abby Day and she won the second set 6-1. Jess Vitale started off her match at 5 with an ace and never looked back winning 6-1, 6-0. Hillary Franzen played 6 and notched her second singles victory of the day 6-1, 6-0. Hillary dropped only 1 game in both of her singles matches during the day. Maddie Benehoff and Caitlin Fitzgerald also notched singles exhibition victories.

These two matches for the Lady 'Hawks they went into a tough environment and came out with two wins. These two matches really show how hard all of our girls have been working this year. Next up for the Lady 'Hawks are matches against UW-La Crosee and Wheaton College at Wheaton College on Sept. 15th. Come out and support the Warhawks!

Pictures from the matches to follow soon.

Men's Western Illinois Invite

The men kicked off the 2012-2013 season with a bang at the Western Illinois Invite. The Western Illinois Invite is a great tournament that features many scholarship schools, and it is a great opportunity for our players to get some great matches against some great players. We have many new faces this year with six incoming freshman and one transfer student from Cleveland State, and it was great to see these players out there representing the Warhawks.

The tournament started on Friday with doubles competition. Byron and Mitch Osborne won the 1 doubles bracket for the 'Hawks. They started off slow, but came through in a tiebreaker in the first round. Much of the dust began to shake off as well in the semifinals, before they returned to the form that made them one of the best doubles teams in the nation in the finals. Andrew Bayliss teamed up with transfer Ben Shyklar in the 2 doubles bracket. Andrew and Ben played well in their first round, but fell in the second round to Division II Truman State. They showed great resiliency however coming back to win in the 3rd place match. Andrew McGlashen and Kevin Friend teamed up to win the 3 doubles bracket for the 'Hawks. Andy and Kevin won their first two rounds with ease, but came up against two tough Division I players from Western Illinois in the final. After being down 6-7 love-40 the 'Hawks realed off three straight games to win the match 9-7. The 4 doubles bracket featured two Warhawk teams, Brian Klein and Cam Laktash and new freshman Ben Klein and Jake Humphreys. Both teams played well in their first two rounds even beating two teams from Division I schools (Brian and Cam defeated Valparaiso 8-0 and Ben and Jake defeated Western Illinois 8-2). That set up a terrific all Warhawk final where Brian and Cam defeated Ben and Jake 9-7 to win the bracket.

The Warhawks carried their great doubles performances into the singles competition. Byron Balkin played in the 1 singles draw for the 'Hawks. He won his first round with ease, but came up against a big serving lefty from Western Illinois in the semifinals. Byron played well, but couldn't come up with the goods to win. In the 3rd place match Byron played against the number one player from Valparaiso and the match was a barn burner. After losing the first set 5-7 Byron came back in the second and won 7-0 in the set tiebreaker and sent the match to a decisive third set breaker. The third set tiebreaker was entertaining with great tennis throughout, but Byron came up short 11-13 to take 4th place in the draw. Ben Shyklar played in the 2 singles draw for the 'Hawks and won his first round, but suffered a knee injury in the process. He played his second round though and won the first set before the injury became too much and lost in a third set breaker. Ben had to pull out of the third place match giving him a 4th place finish. Andrew Bayliss played in the 3 singles draw for the 'Hawks and won his first round against a tough player from Olivet Nazarene. In Bayliss' next round he played against a tough player from Lindenwood. Andrew took the first set, but his opponent found his stride in the second set and the third set tiebreaker to win the match. In the third place match Bayliss played a big serving player from Valparaiso, but his serve was just too tough and Andrew lost 4-6, 6-7. The 4 singles bracket featured two Warhawk players Andrew McGlashen and Ben Klein. Both players played well in their first two matches and found themselves matched up against each other in the second all Warhawk final of the tournament. In a great match Andy won 6-4, 7-6(8). Mitch Osborne played in the 5 singles bracket for the 'Hawks and won his first two round to set up a match against Western Illinois in the final. This match was close from the beginning, but Mitch lost the third set breaker to give him second place in the draw. Jake Humphreys played in the 6 singles draw for the 'Hawks, and after a tight semifinal where Jake lost the first set only to come back and win the match he won the final against Western Illinois to win the bracket. Brian Klein was supposed to play in the 7 singles draw, but after doubles had to pull out with an arm injury. Freshman Matt Bisbee stepped up in his absence and beat two Division I players from Valparaiso and Western Illinois in the semis and finals respectively to win the draw. The 8 singles draw featured two Warhawks, Cam Laktash and Frehsman Nate Campanilie. Cam lost a tough first match and had to pull out after with a back injury. Nate on his first round, and won a great second round against Valparaiso before falling to Lindenwood in the final to take second. Kevin Friend played in the 9 singles draw and took 3rd.

Overall, it was a great tournament for the 'Hawks especially considering that we had two days of practice before the tournament, and many new players on the team. The Warhawks won 6 of the 13 draws in the tournament along with taking 2nd in two others. There were also two brackets that featured all Warhawk finals. These results make me very excited for the coming season, and I know our guys are going to work hard throughout the season. The next tournament for the guys in their non-traditional season is the ITA tournament at the end of September. I will be posting pictures from the invite later so keep an eye out for those.

Video from match against UW-Eau Claire and The Warhawk Invite

Here is some video from our match against UW-Eau Claire and The Warhawk Invite. Great job ladies on a terrific opening weekend!

UWW Women vs. Eau Claire and the Warhawk Invite

After 2 tough weeks of preseason practices I know our ladies were ready to start off our season right. It wasn't going to be easy though, our first match was against conference rival UW-Eau Claire. The ladies knew they needed to start doubles off strong to really control the tempo of the match. At 1 doubles Sydney Divelbiss and Alexandra Bayliss started off the match with two breaks of serve and never looked back winning the match 8-3. At 2 doubles Megan Kasten and Jackie Vitale started off strong going up 3-0, but their counterparts from Eau Claire played tough in the next two games to pull it to 3-2. After that the games were long and tough but Megan and Jackie kept coming up with the shots when they needed them, and they pulled away to win 8-3. Lauren Aguilar and Kelly Foster teamed up for one of the first times in their careers to pull out a great victory at 3 doubles, 8-3.

The 3-0 lead after doubles is something we strive to get in every match. It can really help you take the upper hand in the match, and it certainly helped our women on Friday. UW-Eau Claire was not going to go off into the night quitely though. Sydney Divelbiss started off her match playing 3 of the longest games I have ever seen. After those 3 games her match looked like it would go until 2 am, but Sydney really stepped up her play and didn't lose a game the rest of the match. Alexandra Bayliss's match was an up and down affair. Alexandra took the first set 6-1. All the games were tough, but Alexandra kept coming up with the shots she needed at the right time. In the second set though Katie Gillman from Eau Claire took advantage of a lull in Alexandra's game to win the second set 6-0. After that quick second set Alexandra found her fire again and took the third set 6-0. I have to say that this was one of the weirdest scores I've ever seen in a match 6-1, 0-6, 6-0. Three singles was a battle from the first game. Jackie Vitale's opponent from Eau Claire was very consistent and made Jackie work for every point she got. Jackie came up with those shots in the first set winning 6-2, but her opponenet raised her game to win the second set 6-3. That forced a decisive third set tiebreaker, and Jackie regained her form from the first set to win 10-4. At 4 singles Megan Kasten did not start off with the strongest play in her match and found herself down 3-0 early. After that though she found her stride and only lose 2 games the rest of the match to win 6-4, 6-1. At 5 singles Lauren Aguilar was in control from the beginning winning 6-3, 6-1. Six singles featured a newcomer to the Lady 'Hawks, Erika Williams. Erika is a freshman from Burnsville, MN and showed her mental toughness and racket skills in 5 tough preseason challenge matches to win the number 6 singles spot. On Friday though Erika came up against a wall. Her opponent just never missed and could play all over the court. After dropping the first set 1-6 Erika fought hard in the second set keeping it close throughout only to drop a tight second set 4-6. Freshman Ashley Miller, and Junior Hillary Franzen also came up with exhibition singles victories along with Abby Day and Jess Vitale who came up with a great win at 4 doubles.

This 8-1 win for the Lady 'Hawks was a terrific victory. It was great to see our team come out with such fight and energy. We lost two great players from last year, Kalla Schaefer and Annie Smith, and it was great to see our players step up and fill those voids. Here are some pictures from the match as always I would like to thank Liz Bayliss from her great photographs.

On Saturday the Lady 'Hawks welcomed 7 other teams to the UWW courts for the Warhawk invite. This is a great event that gets our players a lot of match experience early in the season. For the invite teams are allowed to play players in either  singles or doubles draws. There are 3 draws for singles and 3 draws for doubles so teams have to utilize a total of 9 players. Sydney Divelbiss played the 1 singles bracket for the Lady 'Hawks and she played great throughout the tournament to win her bracket. Alexandra Bayliss played many tough opponents in her bracket as well, but she proved to be too tough and won her bracket as well. Erika Williams played in the 3 singles bracket, and came back from her loss on Friday night to come up with 3 wins against quality opponents to win her bracket.

In doubles Megan Kasten and Jackie Vitale played in the tough 1 doubles bracket. After cruising in their first round they played a tough 1 doubles team from UW-Eau Claire. The teams split the first two sets, but Eau Claire proved to be too tough and took the decisive third set tiebreaker. Megan and Jackie then bounced back to win the third place match. At 2 doubles Lauren Aguilar and Kelly Foster played strong in their first two rounds, but came up against a tough team from UW-La Crosse in the final. The match was back and forth the whole time, but La Crosse ended up winning the bracket. At 3 doubles Abby Day and Jess Vitale played great throughout the tournament and took the 3 doubles bracket.

The great results from all of the ladies helped to secure the team victory for the Invite. This is the 8th consecutive time the Lady 'Hawks have won the Warhawk Invite. For individual match results click here Here are some pictures from Saturday.

Next up for the Lady 'Hawks are two dual matches against Midwest conference opponents, Beloit College and Lake Forest College, in Lake Forest, IL on Sept. 9th. I hope to see all you super fans there on Sunday.