Meet the Warhawk Rookies!

Now that the off-season is in full swing, we thought it would be a good idea to have our fans and supporters meet the newcomers to the Warhawk tennis family.
Enjoy! and as always,
GO HAWKS!!

Warhawk Newbies Video

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

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

UW-Whitewater Men's and Women's Tennis In Full Force This Weekend

This past weekend the Men's tennis team began their fall season competition at the Art Peterson Invite hosted by Western Illinois.  This tournament hosts teams from D1, D2, D3, and NAIA and is some great early competition.  Friday hosted the singles action as we saw our Warhawks take 4 of the 7 singles flights.  Jake Humphreys, Scott Butler, Kevin Friend (the "doubles specialist"), and Justin Bowman, won at the #1, #5, #6, #7 singles flights respectivly.  Saturday we saw some hot doubles action and even hotter weather as the Warhawks battled through some early season soreness and injuries to take 2 of the 3 doubles flights.  Scott Butler and Marty Beck at #2 doubles, and Brian Klien, and Daniel Etman at #3 doubles.  Overall the Warhawks had a very successful tournament taking 1st in 6 of the 11 flights and 3rd in the always tough #1 doubles draw thanks to Rithwik Rajshekhar Raman, and Kevin Friend.

On Saturday the Lady Hawks hosted Wheaton College at the UWW Stadium courts.  The Lady Hawks put together arguably there best performance ever against Wheaton winning 9-0.  The match featured the official line-up debut of three very hard working seniors;  Jess Vitale, Hillary Franzen, and Abby Day.  These ladies are a great representation not only of our program, but hard work as well.

Overall UW-W tennis had a very successful weekend and now that the season is in full force it is time to really step up the hard work!!!

Next Weekend the Lady Hawks travel to Lacrosse and Eau Claire for some important conference matches.
Women's Schedule

Go Hawks!

2013-2014 Tennis Season Begins

On Thursday the men's and women's team met at Coach Barnes' house for an annual season kick-off barbeque and a chance to get to know each other.  The Barnes' entertainment complex features ping-pong, pool, bags, sand volleyball, and much more.  All hosted and prepared by grill-master Barnes.

  

Saturday and Sunday had a less friendly feel to it, as the Womens team began competition against Edgewood College.  A match that was supposed to begin at at 3:30.  But because of rain and thunderstorms was pushed back roughly three hours beginning at 6:30.  Forcing Whitewater to open their season, under the lights.  Playing under the lights is a new experience for several of our players and it was good to see all the young players pull out victories.  In fact all UWW players, lineup and exhibition won bringing the total match count to 16-0 in Whitewaters favor.

Sunday, the lady hawks faced much tougher competition, in the Warhawk invite.  The Warhawk Invite is 6 seperate draws, a #1, #2 and a #3 singles and doubles draw.  At the end of each draw points are awarded to each team based on the performance of the individual for said team.  The Lady Hawks dominated the invite winning 5 of the 6 flights and taking 2nd in the other.  A special shout out to Megan Humprehys who won the #1 singles draw and is only a freshman!!  

Next week the men travel to Western Illinois University to participate in the Art Peterson Invite, while the Lady Hawks host a big regional match at home vs Wheaton College at 1:30 Pm Sat. Sep. 7.

Final Post from "The Bickett Zone"

Warhawk Tennis Fans,

It is with great regret that I inform you that I will be leaving my position as the Assistant Head Men's and Women's Tennis coach at UW-Whitewater to become the Director of Tennis at Premier Tennis & Fitness in Janesville, WI. I have greatly enjoyed my last 6 years working with the program, and I look forward to continuing to help out in a volunteer role. Luckily for the program Erik Scanlan will be taking over my post, and I know Erik will bring great knowledge and passion to the position.

Erik will be taking over the duties of the blog, and it will transition from "The Bickett Zone" to "The Scanny Skinny", and I look forward to being a strong follower of the skinny.

Coach Barnes had this excerpt to add:

"Daniel has done an amazing job the past six seasons helping guide the team to new heights, while both teams dominated conference play and reached the NCAA each of those seasons.  He was also named ITA assistant coach of the year for both men’s and women’s tennis during that stretch.  Coach Bickett will be missed, and I want to thank him for so many years of great service to our program.

It will be a nice transition with the hiring of Erik Scanlan, since he has already been involved with the program the past 5 years (4 as a player and 1 as a volunteer coach).  Erik brings an incredible playing background as a 4 year letter winner, two time team captain and having earned All-American Honors in 2010-11.  That same year he won the ITA regional doubles title and advanced to the ITA National Small College Championships.  He helped lead the team to four consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament and helped the team advance to the sweet sixteen in 2011.  In 2012 he was honored as a member of the All-Time WIAC men’s tennis team. 

In addition to Scanlan’s impressive playing resume, he comes to the program with a wealth of teaching experience.  Over the past several years he has worked at Four Lakes Athletic Club in Elkhorn WI, Forest City Tennis Club in Rockford IL, Green Acres Country Club in Northbrook, IL and has been a large part of the Warhawk Tennis Camps over the years.  Scanlan is a PTR certified teaching professional achieving the highest level “Professional”."


Thanks for everything and GO 'HAWKS!

Pictures from Matches, The Banquet, etc.

Here are some pictures from The 'Hawks and Lady 'Hawks last couple of matches and the end of the year banquet. Thanks Liz Bayliss for the pictures!

Midwest Invite

Lady 'Hawks vs. Coe and Grinnell

Warhawk Men Final Four

'Hawks vs. Kalamazoo

Lady 'Hawks vs. Carthage

Lady 'Hawks Senior Day

'Hawks Senior Day

End of Year Banquet