April 1, 2015 By Josh Sinclair
The undefeated UW-Whitewater women’s tennis team had little trouble sweeping the competition in Orlando, Florida over spring break.
The team went a combined 24-3 in three matches over the course of six days last week. The ’Hawks, ranked No. 27 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division-III poll, won all three matches to remain a perfect 15-0 this year.
“I was very impressed by the ladies this week, we were missing two players due to injury and other players stepped up, and it really spoke to the depth of this team,” head coach Frank Barnes said.
The team was scheduled to play five matches but only were able to participate in three because two matches were rained out.
The ’Hawks first took the court against Stevens Institute of Technology on Mar. 21 and won all nine matches to complete the sweep. The ’Hawks won all three matches in doubles but were even more dominate in singles as it didn’t drop more than two games in a set.
Sophomore Megan Humphreys went undefeated all week as No. 1 singles.
“We weren’t use to playing in such high temperatures with the sun out so it was important to take care of our bodies to perform well in those conditions,” Humphreys said. “As a team we did really well, and everyone performed at a high level to beat good teams.”
After the first match, the ’Hawks enjoyed three days off due to rainouts.
“Lots of families come down and that makes the experience more fun for everyone and allows players to have more fun outside of the court,” Barnes said.
The second match took place on March 25 and the ’Hawks came away with the 6-3 victory against No. 24 Wellesley College.
Junior captain Ashley Miller and sophomore Rachel Siemon started it off for the ‘Hawks with an 8-2 victory in No. 3 doubles. The ‘Hawks took two of the three doubles sets to give them an advantage heading into the singles.
Siemon then went 6-1, 6-0 to take the No. 6 singles to extend the lead for the ’Hawks. Humphreys than gave the Warhawks their fourth point of the match with a 6-4, 6-2 win with a No. 1 singles match against Sojung Lee, ranked No. 10 in the Northeast Region.
The Warhawks then took the court for the third and final time on March 26 against Colby College (Maine). The ’Hawks went unbeaten once again to finish the trip a perfect 3-0.
UW-W won each doubles spot by identical 8-2 scores to take the first three points. In singles play, Humphreys and Wallace didn’t allow a game in 6-0, 6-0 at the first and fourth spots, respectively.
“This trip is really great for three reasons,” Barnes said. “First, because it builds team comradery, we get to be around one another and it allows us to bond on another level. Second, it allows us to play tougher competition than we would normally play. And last, we get in extra practices and the good weather doesn’t hurt either.”
