The Warhawks made themselves comfortable in the team’s first dual match  on the home court against Carthage College and Elmhurst College April 1.

The women’s tennis team is currently ranked 22nd in the nation, and assistant coach Byron Balkin is proud of how the team has performed against a difficult  schedule.

“Right now, with our schedule, we’ve been playing a lot of tough teams, and I think they’re going to be used to hard competition,” Balkin said.

With a record of 15-4 overall, the ’Hawks demolished Carthage, 8-1, and Elmhurst, 9-0.

“They made two strong regional opponents look not so strong,” Balkin said.

In the beginning of the Carthage matches, the ’Hawks were untouchable in all of the doubles matches starting out the match with a
3-0 lead.

“Double’s is something we’ve really been focusing on, and they’re really starting to put together good tennis,” Balkin said.

Senior Megan Humphreys and junior Bridgid McGuire started out the doubles play with an 8-1 victory securing them in the No. 1 spot.

Humphreys was unable to be reached at press time.

Juniors Alexandra Talyansky and Jillian Wallace took No. 2 with an 8-5 win. Juniors Alicia Beck and Brittany Goebel had an 8-6 victory as well.

The ’Hawks couldn’t be stopped and kept rolling during singles play.

Wallace dominated her singles taking the win with the scores 6-2, 6-0, while Beck vanquished her match with a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

“They all have their times where they can show great tennis,”
Balkin said.

The ‘Hawks women’s team didn’t stop there.

Elmhurst got shut down by the ‘Hawks women’s team, while their No. 2 and No. 3 tandems took victories, starting the tournament right with a 2-0 lead. Humphreys and McGuire’s nail-bitter finish of 6-5, 9-7 sat them comfortably at the No. 1 position.

“The schedule just keeps getting tougher and tougher,” Balkin said.

The Warhawks continued to dominate moving into singles matches to round out the weekend tournament.

Every singles player swept their matches, walking away with all victories sitting comfortably in their pocket by the end of the day.

“We haven’t had any major injuries this season, so we’re looking forward to having all of the girls ready to go next weekend,” Balkin said.

The UW-W women’s tennis team will compete at the Midwest Invitational April 7-8 in Madison.