Women’s tennis strong as tournament approaches

Augie Spankowski, Staff Reporter

Women’s tennis had a busy and successful road trip Oct. 13. They first beating UW-River Falls, then traveled to UW-Stout and grabbed their second road win of the day. The Warhawks won both matchups 9-0.

Whitewater improves to 6-1 overall and 6-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

By the end of the day, the Warhawks’ extended their WIAC dual match winning streak was to 95 matches.

It was our last weekend of conference matches before the conference tournament so we really wanted to win,” senior Julie Martin said.

The first match at UW-River Falls started at 9:30 a.m. and ended soon after when sophomores Allie Miller and Paige Nierman, playing No. 2 doubles, swept the match in a dominant 8-0 performance.

Seniors Gabi Kitchell and Julie Martin were the No. 1 doubles team. The score sat at 3-2 after the first five games, then Kitchell and Martin went to win three of the next four before finishing the match with an 8-5 victory.

Freshmen Jessica Minkov and Molly Rueth won the third and final doubles match of the day before singles competition began.

At the No. 1 singles spot, Kitchell won her game, 6-3, 6-1. At the No. 2 singles slot, Martin won her match 6-0, 6-1.

At the No. 3 singles spot, Sabrina Palavra went toe-to-toe with River Falls’ Hannah Andresi. In the first set, Palavra won with ease (6-1) before running into trouble in the second. Palavra won the set in a 6-6 tiebreaker to win the match, 6-1, 7-6.

Nierman, Madeline Slicker and Elsie Ha all went on to win in straight sets at the No. 4, 5 and 6 singles spots to secure the sweep against UW-River Falls.

The team arrived at UW-Stout for its second conference match of the day at 3 p.m.

At the No. 1 doubles slot, Palavra and Nierman clinched an 8-4 victory amidst solid competition.

The No. 3 doubles team of Elsie Ha and Bryce Bigelow started slow, but eventually stepped up to win their last four matches in an 8-1 victory.

At the top singles spot, Martin dominated against UW-Stout’s Linsey Thisius, winning the first set 6-0 and the second 6-1.

Palavra was slotted in the No. 1 singles spot and went on to win a 2-2 tie when her opponent, Annie Sandry, had to forfeit due to injury.

Minkov and Miller both won in the No. 4 and No. 6 singles matches, respectively. Minkov won after two 6-1 sets. Miller took home her first set 6-1, following with another victory 6-0.

The team will have to continue to work hard in practices this week [and] focus on singles and doubles strategies to prepare,” Martin said. “We’re headed into the weekend with high hopes.”

The Warhawks ended up winning the second meet 9-0, finishing their season with a perfect 6-0 WIAC record, and securing the top spot in the conference going into the WIAC Championship next weekend. The conference tournament begins at 1 p.m. Oct. 20 in Madison.