April 23, 2014

By Daniel Schoettler

Warhawks men’s tennis player Byron Balkin has made history over the weekend by becoming the winningest player in program history.

The senior did so by winning at both one doubles and one singles on Friday against UW-Oshkosh as he now has 167 combined wins in doubles and singles, passing Alex Lowe, who had the previous record of 165 wins.

“In order to pull up a feat like that you have to play all four years,” coach Frank Barnes said.  “You have to play injury-free and average 30-40 wins.  It talks about his physical work ethic, mental toughness to come back and get wins. He leads by example and helps out the younger players.”

Balkin won 6-2 and 6-2 in one singles and paired up with sophomore Jake Humphreys as they remained perfect playing
together with a 8-6 win at one doubles.

“Over my four years, I have been fortunate to play for UW-Whitewater and find success on the court,” Balkin said.  “It’s very exciting to have reached the achievement of most wins in men’s tennis program history.  It is because of the coaching in Frank Barnes and my teammates pushing me in practice every day.  Without them, I wouldn’t be the player I am today.”

Freshman Martin Beck won his 11th-consecutive singles match to improve to 12-2 on the season as he beat Aiden Sauberlich, 6-4 and 6-1, in four singles.

He teamed up with junior Ben Shklar and topped UW-Oshkosh in doubles, 8-6.

In five singles, sophomore Michael Schnarr won straight sets to improve to 9-2 on the season.

Senior Ben Klein and Junior Cam Laktash both won in straight sets at three and six singles, respectively.

The Warhawks played UW-La Crosse and UW-Eau Claire on Saturday to finish off the WIAC Final Four.

The ’Hawks defeated UW-La Crosse, 8-1, and beat the Blugolds, 7-2, on Saturday.

Humphreys won in one singles in straight sets to improve to 25-6 on the year.

Balkin won a tight singles match and paired with Humphreys again as they won 8-1 in doubles.

Klein won both three singles matches.

Laktash won in straight sets at both four and five singles.

Schnarr won in straight sets in six singles in both of his matches.

“It was a great weekend for the team,” Laktash said.  “We have a lot of injuries, so a bunch of guys don’t always get playing time got into the lineup, and they stepped up when we needed them to.”

With the three wins, the Warhawks improve to 19-7, and have one more match in the regular season against Coe College at 10 a.m. April 27 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

“Our conference only has four teams,” Barnes said.  “If we win our last match against Coe College, I say we are in a good position to get an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament.”