Univ. of Wisconsin, Whitewater Team Page
The UW-Whitewater Women’s tennis team went 3-0 in a week of tough non-conference opponents. The highlight was taking out Wheaton College 5-4 in a match that featured two teams ranked in the top 20 in the nation.
On Wednesday they faced rival Carthage College in the morning followed by a match against IL-Wesleyan in the afternoon. Against the Redmen in the morning the team performed very well. The team was ready to play someone other than themselves after a couple weeks of challenge matches. The doubles play was very impressive. Our #2 (Stensvaag/Smith) and #3 (Kappel/Aguilar) teams played very well winning 8-0 and 8-1 respectively. The battle of the day was at #1 doubles. Schaefer/Daciolas lost a tough 9-8 tiebreak decision after making a strong run after being down 4-7. They battled back to lead 8-7, and also had a match point on their serve in the tiebreak, but Carthage did a nice job at the net and playing defense when needed to take the match. Schaefer sat out in singles because their #1 singles player was not playing yet due to an injury. We had two three setters at #1 and #2 from Stensvaag and Smith. Smith won hers 10-2 after taking the second set 6-1. Stensvaag lost hers 10-5. They played match tiebreaks because the team match had already been decided as the team was leading 6-1 thanks to terrific play from our #3-#6 players. At #3 Siemon lost only 3 games, Daciolas lost none at #4, Rutkowski lost one at #5 and Kasten lost only three at #6. A team highlight was Aguilar and Kasten each getting their first college victories in the varsity lineup.
That afternoon the team swept the competition playing IL-Wesleyan. At #1 doubles Schaefer/Daciolas were on a roll before their opponents had to default due to heat exhaustion. At #2 (Stensvaag/Smith) and #3 (Siemon/Rutkowski) each won with 8-2 scores giving the team a 3-0 lead heading to singles. Schaefer took the default at #1 as her opponent did not recover. Stensvaag, Smith, Seimon, Daciolas, and Kappel all took care of business losing no more 3 games in any match.
Saturday was the match of the week. The team had been looking forward to this match-up of top 20 teams for a couple of reasons. First Wheaton is always good and deep. We knew it would be a good early season measuring stick to see how we fared against a top team. UWW was ranked #19 at the end of the year last year and Wheaton was #18. We always have great matches against them and we anticipated another one. Also we split with Wheaton last year, beating them in the regular season, but were knocked off by them in the NCAA tournament, so we wanted to turn the tables on them. Doubles play looked great for the Lady Warhawks. The team cruised again at #2 (Rutkowski/Siemon) and #3 (Stensvaag/Smith) winning 8-2 and 8-3, respectively. At #1 Schaefer and Daciolas were again in another battle. They were down early, but then took the lead near the end of the proset. Wheaton closed the gap and sent the match to another tiebreak. Wheaton played great tennis taking the victory 9-8(4).
With a 2-1 lead going into singles the team felt confident needing only three of the matches, but Wheaton is tough, so we did not know where we’d get the wins. Siemon made a great comeback after being down 5-2 in the first set and ended up winning 7-6(4), 6-2 to give the Hawks a 3-1 lead. Then Schaefer finished off her match in straight sets and Smith dropped a tough match making the Hawks lead 4-2. Schaefer did a great job from the baseline battling with Worsowicz and finished well at the net when needed. Smith started slowly and was down 6-3, 5-0 before mounting a comeback. She won the next four games before coming up just short in her comeback bid. We needed just one more win to seal the victory now with three matches still on the court. Stensvaag pulled off the victory 6-3, 6-3 giving the team the win. Ingrid played exceptionally well in the areas that she has been working on-taking care of her short balls and finishing at the net. It was an important win for her as we ended up losing the other two matches still on. Kappel was up 5-2 in the third set and serving at 5-3 40-0, but here opponent came up with three huge points to put it back on serve and Kappel ended up losing in a tiebreak battle at #6. Daciolas lost the other match in a tight one getting broke at end of each set, losing 7-5, 6-4.
In exhibition matches the Warhawks exhibited their depth not losing a single match in the three matches. They went 16-0 in exhibition singles and doubles matches. Our new freshmen Lauren Aguilar, Megan Kasten, Kelly Foster, and Crystal Bochao did great getting some matches under the belt! It was a great way to get them all started in their first year here in the program. Kinsman, Martin, Rutkowski and Kappel were the returners that had exhibition victories as well.
It was a terrific week #1, but we will continue to try to improve every week. This upcoming weekend the Warhawks begin conference play against UW-Stout on Friday at 3:30 at home, then they host the Warhawk Invite Saturday in which the Warhawks will play bracketed singles and doubles matches against opponents from UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Stout, and Beloit College. Play on Saturday begins at 9am and will go through late afternoon.
We hope to see you there—GO WARHAWKS!!!!
