WIAC Championship

This past weekend the Women traveled to Nielsen Tennis center in Madison for the WIAC conference tournament.  This is the culmination of our fall conference season and determines the conference champion for the year.  Because of the spectacular play from our Lady Hawks during the regular season, we received the one seed, and first round byes in seven of the nine flights.  The tournament opened on Saturday with doubles action featuring the senior duo of Abby Day/ Hilary Franzen, who were making their conference tournament debut in the #3 doubles draw.  The seniors came out on fire taking down UW-Stout easily in the first round, and then avenging a regular season loss to a tough UW-Eau Claire team, 9-7.  Another senior making her debut in the conference championship lineup was Jess Vitale.  Jess received a #1 seed and a first round bye in the #6 singles flight and did not play till Sunday.  In her first match she came out focused (as all our experienced seniors do) and defeated UW-Stevens Point easily.  In the finals she was pushed by Paige Kuepers from UW-Eau Claire but came out victorious 6-2, 7-5 and claiming the #6 singles WIAC title.  Day/Franzen also claimed a conference title with an 8-3 win over UW-Lacrosse's Graham/Wabers.

The WIAC tournament also featured an amazing performance from senior captain Alexandra Bayliss as she claimed the #1 singles WIAC title and more importantly received the Judy Kruckman Scholar Athlete award.  See Judy Kruckman Award Article.  Bayliss also went undefeated in conference singles play over her four years at UW-Whitewater.  The WIAC tournament also featured Coach Barnes receiving his fourth WIAC coach of the year award.

All in all the Lady Hawks were able to capture 6 of the 9 flights including 5 of the 6 singles draws.  Most importantly the Ladies claimed their seventh consecutive WIAC conference championship and earned the #1 seed for the WIAC final four this spring.  The winner of which represents the WIAC in the NCAA Division III National team tournament.

For full scores and results click here

We had an accident with the MAC book so the pictures will be up ASAP.  :-(

ITA Nationals Trip To Ft. Meyers, Florida

After completing the two most successful ITA regional in team history UW-Whitewater went on to have the most successful Small College Championship experience the program has ever had.  Sending two singles players in Jake and Megan Humphreys and the doubles duo of Byron Balkin and Ben Shkylar to Ft, Meyers Fl.  made that by far the most national representatives Whitewater has ever had competing in the Small College Championships at one time.  Megan Humphreys also became the first player ever to leave the Small College Championships with a winning record going 2-1 and placing 5th in the nation for D3!  Balkin/Shklyar also placed the highest of any doubles team in Warhawk men's history taking 7th in the fall national.  Jake Humphreys on his way to 8th place, fell to the eventual finalist Skylar Butts 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in what was possibly the match of the tournament.

Check out some Pictures from our trip to Ft. Meyers, Fl

UW-Whitewater Lady Hawks Host Scholarship Invite

This past weekend the Lady Hawks played host to 6 division 1 and 2 schools from across the Midwest.  This was an excellent opportunity for Whitewater to showcase their tremendous facilities along with their abilities to play competitive tennis at a level higher than our own.  The top schools in attendance were Northern Illinois, UW-Milwaukee,  and New Jersey Institute of Technology.  These schools were able to win most of the flights and although the Lady Hawks did not win any flights they battled hard and fought there way to no 0-3 records meaning every UW-Whitewater player got at least one win in every singles and doubles draw.  Some of the highlights of the weekend were Alexandra Bayliss and Megan Humphreys placing 4th and 5th respectively in the #1 singles draw along with Erika Williams placing 4th in the #3 singles draw.
Seeing this level of competition is a new experience for our Lady Hawks, and an experience coach Barnes and I feel will be very beneficial for the team.  In most fall season scenarios Whitewater is considered to be one of, if not the top team in the event.  By hosting this scholarship invite it allows to place ourselves amongst a higher standard of tennis and allows us to see how the next tier of players play and handle themselves on and off the court.

Click here for full scores and Results

Men Dominate ITA Regional Tournament

History continues to be made as the 2013-2014 UW-Whitewater Men's team dominated the ITA Central Regional tournament hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN.  The Men's team departed Whitewater on Thursday with their expectations set high, and their focus even higher.  This was demonstrated immediately as the men battled through three rain delays in the first two hours of the tournament Friday morning.  Battling through the element the Warhawks experienced tremendous success in the opening rounds which was highlighted by Senior Captian Brian Kleins upset win over the #5 seed Grant Liesner from host school Gustavus.  Because of the rain, matches became really backed up and forced some of the latest match times in tournament history.  The doubles combo of Bowman/Yuvaraj started their last match at 11:30 and came out victorious well after midnight.  Saturday brought more of the same as the elements continued to pile up.  Rain poured throughout the morning forcing play indoors and we also began to see how difficult it is to play two six to seven round tournaments in three days.  Players bodies began to cramp and the trainers life became much more difficult as he/she was constantly running out to different courts to help all sorts of players with different aliments.  Only the strongest survive to compete on Sunday as Jake Humphreys entered the semi-finals of singles and the doubles duo of Balkin/Shklyar became set to compete in the Doubles final.  On Sunday, we were finally blessed with some good weather as the competition took place outdoors.  Humphreys competed fiercely winning his semi-final match against the #1 seed Noah Sprinkle (Coe).  Jake then competed against Jack Michael (Carrol) in the ITA regional Final.  After a long and brutal match UW-Whitewater's Humphreys emerged victorious 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 earning him All-American honors and a spot in the Small college Nationals in Ft. Meyers, FL.  Joining them will be the doubles combo of Balkin/Shklyar who defeated the #2 seeded Gustavus team of Smith-Dennis/Al-Houni 6-3, 6-3.  This will be Balkin's second trip to the ITA small college Championships and the first for Shklyar.
Looking at the success over the last two weekends you can't help, but look back at were this program has come from.  Six years ago #1 singles player, and all time leader in wins for men's tennis, Alex Lowe became the first UW-Whitewater player to make the quarterfinals of this tournament.  This result is now common-place as we had three men and three women qualify for the singles quarterfinal this year alone.  Over the past ten years this program has grown into one of the more successful programs in the central region.  As this is a big accomplishment Coach Barnes and his players have there sights set higher.  Reaching new levels on the national scale as a team and competing for individual national titles is on the cusp for these teams and with the effort and focus we have seen from them so far, now is as good a time as any.

Doubles Championship Point

Singles Championship Point