Warhawk Invite

This weekend the Warhawks welcomed three tough teams to Wisconsin for the Warhawk Invite, Grinnell College, UW-Oshkosh, and Wheaton College. All three of these teams have challenged the 'Hawks the last few years and the guys were ready to come out and compete.

On Friday the 'Hawks took on UW-Oshkosh and Wheaton College at Four Lakes Athletic Club in Elkhorn, WI. First up for the 'Hawks was UW-Oshkosh. The 'Hawks came out firing in doubles. Byron Balkin and Andrew Bayliss at 2 doubles broke twice in the first 3 games and they never looked back winning 8-2. At 3 doubles Kevin Friend and Brian Klein were back and forth with their opponents for the first few games, but they eventually took the lead and ran with it winning 8-4. 1 doubles was more of the same, Ben Shklyar and Mitch Osborne were in a tight match in the first few games. Both teams traded breaks back and forth until the Warhawks found their groove to win 8-4.

The 'Hawks felt good after doubles, but after the last few weeks of playing well and not getting any wins the 'Hawks were going to make sure this one didn't get away. At the 3-6 singles spots the 'Hawks stepped up to control the matches from the start. With Ben Shklyar and Andrew Bayliss out of singles Brian Klein and Cam Laktash stepped up at 5 and 6 singles respectively. Klein won his match at 5 singles 6-0, 6-3 and Laktash won at 6 singles 6-0, 6-1. 1 and 2 singles were tough matches the whole way through though. At 1 singles Balkin was in a tight match. In both sets the players were holding serve up until 4-4 when Byron broke and held to win each set 6-4, 6-4. Andy McGlashen was in a different situation all together. Andy lost the first set 2-6 after some great defensive play by his opponent, and he was down a break in the second set. After a long game Andy found himself back on serve, and then some even longer games later he found himself up a break serving for the set. Eventually he closed out the set, and they entered the third set breaker. At that point Andy jumped out to a huge 6-0 lead and he never looked back winning the third set breaker 10-2. This capped the 9-0 victory for the 'Hawks.

After the match against UW-O the 'Hawks didn't have anytime to celebrate their first win of the season they had to turn around and get ready to play Wheaton College. In doubles Ben Shklyar and Mitch Osborne sat out the doubles and Byron Balkin and Andrew Bayliss stepped up at the 1 doubles position. The match was tight as Andrew and Byron went down a break early, but they eventually fought their way back. Both teams continued to hold and eventually they found themselves in a tiebreaker. Early in the tiebreaker the 'Hawks struggled and on the change of ends they found themselves down 1-5. They continued to chip away at that lead, and they eventually won the tiebreaker 8-6. At 2 doubles both teams held the whole way through till Andy and Jake broke at 7-6. Cam Laktash and Kevin Friend dominated throughout to win 8-0.

In singles Ben Shklyar and Andy McGlashen sat out so Brian Klein and Matt Bisbee could get some valuable experience. Bisbee stepped up at 6 to get his first every collegiate dual match victory 6-2, 6-3. Klein also stepped up to notch his second singles victory of the day. Jake Humphreys and Andrew Bayliss also notched victories for the 'Hawks. The only match the 'Hawks dropped all day was at 1 singles where Byron Balkin fell 2-6, 2-6 in a tough match.

For complete scores from both matches on Friday click here

On Saturday the 'Hawks traveled to Cherokee Country Club in Madison, WI to take on Grinnell College. Grinnell is a tough team that beat the 'Hawks as recently as 2009. At the start of doubles it was clear that they guys were playing well and with a lot of confidence. All three doubles secured breaks early and eventually the 'Hawks found themselves up 3-0. 

As singles started the Warhawks jumped out early at every match. With Byron Balkin sitting out the match Brian Klein stepped up for an impressive 6-1, 6-0 win at 6 singles. Other highlights from singles include a 6-2, 6-1 victory from Ben Shklyar at 1 singles and a 6-0, 6-0 victory from Jake Humphreys at 3 singles. 

For complete scores from the match against Grinnell on Saturday click here

Overall this was a good weekend for the 'Hawks. It was important to get some victories over some tough teams. I know a lot of the guys were getting tired of losing, and these were good matches to renew their enthusiasm. Next weekend the Warhawks travel to Greencastle, IN to take on Case Western Reserve University and DePauw University.

In other news, the win against Grinnell was also an important milestone in Coach Frank Barnes' career. That victory marked the 200th victory in Frank's career as Men's Tennis Head Coach.

Congrats Frank!