The UW-Whitewater Men's and Women's team danced around the bad weather this weekend and ended up getting some good tennis in. The women's match against Carthage was cancelled, since we had already played them this season, but we were able to get in all three other scheduled matches. The matches were hosted by Olivet Nazarene in Boubonnais, IL. See the bottom of the page for the individual scores.
The men put themsleves in a good position by taking out a pair of tough opponents Olivet Nazarene 8-1 and Carthage College 6-3. On their first match of the day, the Warhawks played very well against Olivet (#23 in the nation for NAIA schools). Many of the matches could have gone either way, but the Warhawks showed their mental toughness winning all the close ones except one. Later in the day when we could finally get the Carthage match in, the Warhawk men looked great in doubbles to give the Warhawks a 3-0 start and the momentum they needed to seal the victory. The win at #1 doubles gave Alex Lowe his 164th career win in combined singles and doubles victories. He now owns the record for the most number of wins in Warhawk history! This is even more incredible considering all his wins were at #1 doubles or #1 or #2 singles where it's a battle no matter what team you are playing. Congrats Alex, but were are hoping you can add a few more to it at the NCAA tournament. Lowe passed Steve Klaas who held the record with 163 wins.
The women looked very solid as well in their 7-2 win over Olivet Nazarene (#22 in the nation for NAIA schools). What was most impressive was how well the doubles combinations played together. We were trying some new combinations this weekend and it looks like everyone is clicking together as all the doubles teams won convincingly. Olivet has a very strong and deep singles lineup as well, so we did well taking 4 of the 6 singles matches.
We are hoping our rigorous spring schedule for the ladies have prepared us for our huge upcoming weekend of matches. On Saturday, May 2nd the Warhawks will host the WIAC final four AQ tournament. The winner of this tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, so the stakes are high. The Warhawks earned the right to host as the #1 seeds by winning the fall conference tournament. They will take on #4 seeded UW-Oshkosh at 9am. Then at 1pm the winner of the first round will play the winner of #2 UW-Lax/#3 UW-EC for the title.
The men's regular season is now over and the team will wait to hear on selection Monday, May 4th if they are invited to the big dance and if so, where they will be headed and what their draw will be.
If the teams qualify for NCAAs the first three rounds will be May 8,9,10.
GO WARHAWKS!!
