Hello Warhawk Tennis fans! UW-W’s women’s tennis team completed a three-peat capturing their third consecutive tennis title this past weekend. Another great highlight of the weekend was Ingrid Stensvaag being selected as the WIAC Judy Kruckman Scholar Athlete for her incredible achievement in the classroom, on the court and her volunteer work.
For photos from the conference tournament go to this link:
The conference tournament is a flighted tournament with nine total flights (#1-#6 singles and #1-#3 doubles). The Warhawks did very well in conference play during the regular season going 6-0 and coming in with six of the nine #1 seeds. They ended up winning 5 of 9 flights, but at the midpoint of the tournament things did get tight before they sealed the deal.
Our doubles play was key to the victory, and that was terrific to see, since that was our main focus leading up to the tournament. We had done very well in singles all year, and knew if we could play well in doubles, we could do well again. On day #1 of the 2 day event, the hawks advanced all three doubles teams to the finals which really put us in great position. We were the only team to do that, so it created a little bit of a point cushion. On day #1 we also got everyone through to the semis. At #1, #3, #4, #5, and #6 the team advanced to the semis by earning the bye given to the #1 seed. Ingrid Stensvaag advanced with a 6-0, 6-0 first round win.
Day #2 would start with the semis, followed by the finals of singles. The day would conclude with the finals of doubles. The Warhawk were challenged hard in the semifinals. They advanced 4 of the 6 flights to the finals, but Kalla Schaefer and Ingrid Stensvaag each lost to La Crosse in the semis before fighting back to win their third place matches. Schaefer showed her commitment to the team refusing to default, playing after having a 102 temperature. She could not muster up enough to knock off Kuether, but then reached deep down to take out Rachel Benn 6-1, 6-0. Stensvaag lost a heartbreaker 7-6 in the third set to D-1 transfer Kelly Stadum before rebounding for a nice win over Emily Bostwick in straight sets. Stensvaag’s win sealed the team win heading into the Warhawk’s final three doubles matches. Prior to that Amy Siemon had won her final 6-0, 6-0 over Born of UWEC, Michelle Daciolas won 6-1, 6-2 over Weiner of La Crosse, while Annie Smith and Kathleen Kappel earned runner up honors after falling in very tight final matches.
In the doubles finals, all three Warhawk duos were able to pull out championships. #3 doubles (Siemon/Kelly Rutkowski) was on fire, wining 8-1 over UWEC. #2 doubles (Stensvaag/Smith) beat UWLax 8-5, and #1 doubles (Schaefer/Daciolas) won 8-6 over Steven’s Point.
In addition to the above mentioned honors Kalla Schaefer was named to the WIAC all sportsmanship team.
The team will start its intensive spring season on 3/13 when they travel with the men’s team to St Peter, MN to take on Gustavus and University of Sioux Falls, SD. This will be the first action in an active spring where the team will play at least 14 contests. Part of the spring season will be WIAC final four AQ tournament, just prior to the NCAA tournament. Because we won conference we earned the right to host this event. It brings the top four finishers from the fall conference together to play in a dual match format. We will play Steven’s Point in the semis, EC will play Lax. Then the winners will play each other in the final. The winner of this tournament will get an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Congratulations to all our wonderful young ladies for a terrific fall season and another conference title!
